Mrs Rhodes was a passenger in the car that had stopped at the Esso petrol station in Chesterfield and was walking along the forecourt.  She walked across a plastic manhole cover, not realising that it was wet, possibly from the nearby jet wash.  She slipped and fell over, landing on her back and cutting her foot.  She reported the injury to the garage owner.

Fall in petrol station causes injury to back

As she was in such a lot of pain, Mrs Rhodes attended Chesterfield Royal Hospital the following day, where she was told that she had pulled her back and to take painkillers.  Following this, she saw her own GP as she was still in pain.  She received four sessions of physiotherapy to help with the pain but had to stop as the treatment caused too much pain itself. For some time she was unable to stand or sit for long periods of time or carry out much of the domestic work that she usually did.  She had to rely on her husband for a lot of help.

Jonathan negotiates settlement with owners of premises

Mrs Rhodes contacted Graysons to see if should could claim any compensation and Jonathan took up the case.  He contacted Malthurst Retail Limited, who owned the Esso premises in Chesterfield.  The company denied liability for the accident, so Jonathan issued court proceedings. Jonathan was, however, able to negotiate a settlement of £7,500 before the case went to court, and Mrs Rhodes was happy with the settlement.

Jonathan says: “Whatever type of premises you attend, whether it be a petrol station, supermarket or other types of shop, the occupier of those premises has a duty to take reasonable care to ensure that its premises are safe for members of the public to use. If you have an accident in one of these types of premises and are injured through no fault of your own, you may be able to make a personal injury compensation claim if it can be shown that the shop was negligent.”

You can find out more about making a claim for compensation for a personal injury on our website.