Accident at Work Awards Over £21,000 in Compensation Due to Negligence

Mr S contacted us at Bridge McFarland in 2019, following an accident he had suffered whilst at work in  2018.

Mr S was working as a HGV driver delivering to a local waste disposal site. When he arrived at the site, he had released the straps which were securing the load on the back of his lorry. As he turned, from the lorry to walk towards the site office, he tripped over the low edge of a weighbridge wall which had been obscured by built up mud and debris.

As a result of this accident, he had suffered a nasty fracture-dislocation of his shoulder and had been unable to work as a result.

We agreed to deal with a personal injury claim for Mr S on a no-win, no-fee basis and a Letter of Claim was submitted to the site owners and their insurers.

Liability was denied by the insurers, as they argued that the accident did not happen in the circumstances alleged by Mr S and that the site was not dirty or covered in debris.

We discussed the response with Mr S and obtained further evidence, including a witness statement from his wife, who had collected him from the site to take him to hospital. She confirmed Mr S’ allegations about the state of the site. We also managed to obtain a statement from another driver who had made deliveries to the site in question.

We obtained medical evidence to confirm the extent of the injuries suffered by Mr S, in the form of reports from an orthopaedic consultant.

The insurers continued to deny liability and, as such, we issued Court proceedings. Liability remained in dispute all the way to a final trial. We arranged for a barrister to represent Mr S at trial and obtained all available evidence.

At trial, the Judge found Mr S and his wife to have been very credible witnesses and accepted their evidence about the state of the site. The Judge found in favour of Mr S and he was awarded a total of £21,129.19 for his injuries and associated losses. Injuries and forced time off work can have a significant impact on people’s lives so as a firm we are always pleased to see our clients receiving recognition of their trauma and compensation for their financial losses.