Lucy Flynn
Accident at work due to heavy load
Mr Gilbert, from Staffordshire, worked for Safelec Limited as a delivery driver. On the day of the accident in March 2015, Mr Gilbert was loading his van with a heavy machine that weighed about 500kg. Initially he was being helped by 4 other people but they left him loading the machine himself and, as it was clearly too heavy, he dropped it. It fell to the ground hitting his knee, shin and ankle in the process.
Paramedics attended and Mr Gilbert was taken to hospital where he had x-rays on his leg. Thankfully, no bones were broken but he did suffer bruising and soft tissue injuries that lasted around 8 months.
Mr Gilbert contacted Graysons at the end of March 2016 to see if he could claim compensation for the accident that he thought was due to his employer’s failure to provide him with safe working practices.
Compensation settled in less than 3 months
Lucy took up his case and contacted the insurers of Mr Gilbert’s employer. All employers owe a duty of care to their employees and Lucy claimed that the employers had allowed Mr Gilbert to lift the heavy machine by himself, when they knew that this was too heavy for 1 person. The insurers admitted fault for his accident. Lucy obtained medical evidence detailing the injuries Mr Gilbert suffered in the accident and subsequently negotiated a settlement of £2,520.00 for Mr Gilbert, settling the claim on the 13th June 2016, which is less than 3 months from the time of the accident.
No legal help if Government imposes changes
In its autumn statement last year, the Government announced proposed changes to claiming personal injury compensation. 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, Lucy will not be able to help people like Mr Gilbert with his claim and he would have to make the claim in the Small Claims Court himself, with no legal knowledge or expertise.
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.
Graysons will continue to help victims of personal injury claims wherever possible so please do contact our specialist team now if you need help.
If you have had an accident at work and want to know if you can claim compensation, contact our experts now to discuss your case.
You can find out more about claiming compensation for accidents at work on our web pages.
