Early one August morning, Mr Walshaw was on his way to work in Barnsley and was walking past a shop that was being renovated.  A man was working on some shuttering above the shop and as he reached up to it, an L shaped metal bar fell from the shuttering and hit Mr Walshaw injuring his right shoulder arm and neck.  Another man was walking in front of him.  He saw the accident and asked if Mr Walshaw was OK.

Defendant denied liability for falling metalwork

Mr Walshaw continued on to work but had to leave in the afternoon as he was in pain.  His GP sent him for an ultrasound scan, prescribed painkillers and he had to take two weeks off work to help him recover.

Mr Walshaw contacted Graysons to see if he was able to claim any compensation for the accident and Tracey took up his case.  Tracey contacted Empire Property Concepts Ltd, the company undertaking the work on the property.  She claimed that it had been responsible for the accident.  However, the company denied that it had had any workers renovating the outside of the building at the time of the accident, saying it was the inside that was being worked on only.  The company denied any knowledge of the accident – despite the fact that Mr Walshaw had reported it to the men working there at the time.

Tracey managed to locate the witness to the accident and served his statement on the defendant, but it continued to deny the accident had happened or that it was liable, so Tracey issued court proceedings.  Eventually, after three years, the defendant accepted liability and offered to settle the case and Tracey was able to negotiate a settlement of £2,000 for Mr Walshaw.

If you have been involved in accident that you believe was not your fault and you would like to find out if you are entitled to claim compensation, contact our experts now.  We will arrange a free of charge meeting in which we can discuss your case.  You can also find out more about claiming compensation for accidents on our web pages.