Mr A, who was 21 at time of accident at work, was supposed to be on light duties at work following a previous accident at his workplace.  On this latter occasion, he was told to lift a television on his own onto a stack of televisions almost at his head height.  The TV weighed around 55 to 60 kgs and should have been lifted by 2 people.  As he lifted the TV, Mr A felt his back give way and he fell to the floor, trying not to break the TV as he did so.  He felt immediate back pain.

He had to take time off work to rest the injury and his GP prescribed pain killers and physiotherapy, but the pain and discomfort lasted for some time.

Lucy wins compensation for accident at work

Lucy Flynn, personal injury solicitor

Mr A contacted Graysons and Lucy took up his case.  Lucy pursued his employers claiming that they had exposed him to unneccesary risk and, amongst other issues, they had failed to:

• devise and provide a proper and safe system or method of work
• provide adequate supervision
• carry out adequate risk assessment and reduce risk
• ensure Mr A was provided with H & S advice and training
• to take account of his capabilities
• avoid the need to undertake manual handling operations
• ensure there was adequate equipment and training on that equipment

Mr A’s employers agreed to settle the case and Lucy was able to secure £4,500 for him.

No legal help if Government imposes changes

In its autumn statement last year, the Government announced proposed changes to claiming personal injury compensation this year. The planned changes are to:

Raise the small claims limit for personal injury claims from £1,000 to £5,000, which means that claims of less than £5,000 will be transferred to the small claims court and solicitor fees will not be recoverable – leaving some injured people with no legal help or support, and

Remove the right to compensation for ‘minor’ soft tissue injuries (includes whiplash)

If these changes go ahead as planned, Graysons’ experts would not have been able to help Mr A as his claim was for less than £5000 and he would have had to make the claim, with no legal knowledge or expertise, herself, in the Small Claims Court.

We think that these changes are unfair and will restrict people’s right to proper redress if they have an accident or injury that is not their fault.

If you feel that the government’s proposed changes are unfair and that victims of accidents and injury should be able to claim compensation and obtain legal advice, and you would like to voice your opinion, please sign the petition here https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/113810

Graysons will continue to help victims of personal injury claims wherever possible so please do contact our specialist team now if you need help.

You can find out more about making a personal injury claim on our web pages.