Faulty chairs at Sheffield College

Ms W was a couple of months into a course she was undertaking at Sheffield College.  On the day of the accident, she was with 3 colleagues, waiting outside one of the classrooms for a tutor to unlock the door so they could get in.  As there were some chairs outside the room, Ms W decided to sit down, but just as she was lowering herself to the chair, it tilted and one of her colleagues shouted ‘watch out’.  She felt the chair move beneath her; it felt like it was folding beneath her, and stood up quickly.  As she did so, she jolted her back and it went into spasm.

Faulty chair causes back injury

Ms W knew immediately she had badly injured her back as she suffered a severe sharp pain that was almost unbearable.  She took pain killers and an ambulance attended.  She had managed to sit down, but even the paramedics couldn’t get her to stand up due to the pain.  They gave her gas and air to try to help with the pain and took her to hospital, laid on a stretcher in the ambulance. By the time they reached hospital, the pain was excruciating and Ms W was taken straight through A & E to be seen by a doctor and was given oramorph – which did help with the pain.

Time off work and personal assistance needed due to back injury

Ms W was unable to walk for 3 – 4 days and was couldn’t carry out her work as a quantity surveyor for almost 3 weeks.  She needed a lot of help and an occupational therapist assessed that she would need several aids to help her carry out everyday tasks such as bathing.  As Ms W and her husband both worked, they were unable to obtain any financial assistance in getting these aids.

Ms W had suffered back pain before, but never as severe.  She was referred to physiotherapy but it had to stop as the therapists were concerned about numbness in her leg and didn’t want to cause further back damage.

Graysons wins compensation at court

Concerned about the state of the chairs in college – it was a set of three chairs linked together, but the chair that Ms W tried to sit on was not bolted to the frame and had two bolts removed – and feeling that she had suffered because these chairs had been allowed to be used in that state, Ms W contacted Graysons to see if she could claim compensation.  Tracey took up her case.

Tracey Dickinson

Tracey arranged a medical examination, which confirmed that it would take Ms W  around 18-24 month to recover from the injury and that she would need physiotherapy.  She contacted the college alleging that it was liable for the accident, but the college denied responsibility.  Tracey took the case to trial, which she won, securing £7,836.80 for her client. It was found that the college did not have a reasonable system of inspection and maintenance of furniture in place.  The college said that the chair was inspected 2-3 months prior to the accident but it was unable to provide any documentation to support this. Ms W was delighted with the outcome.

All organisations, such as colleges, have a duty to ensure that its property is safe for users.   If they don’t ensure this safety and someone is injured as a result of that breach of duty, they may be liable to pay compensation.

You can find out more about claiming compensation for accidents that happen in public places on our web pages.

Contact us now to arrange to discuss your case at a free of charge meeting with one of our experts.