On 21 March 2019, Ms Helen McLuckie suffered a trip accident in her workplace car park. The car park was managed by a third party owner.

Her union referred her to Thompsons Solicitors in Scotland and we were then instructed to seek personal injury compensation on her behalf.

The background

On the date of the incident, Ms McLuckie had completed her shift at the Glasgow Association for Mental Health based in Alexandra Parade, Glasgow.

On finishing work for the day, Ms McLuckie left her car in the car park and went to visit a relative in a nearby hospital.

When she returned to the car park it was dark. There was no direct lighting to the car park area and as she walked alongside the car park barriers, on the pavement walkway, she tripped on an uneven paving slab.

Ms McLuckie fell forward onto the pavement, landing face first. Immediately after the trip accident, her lip was bleeding heavily. A driver who had been attempting to leave the car park, saw the accident and stopped to offer assistance. She helped Ms McLuckie back to her car.

The consequences

Ms McLuckie did not seek medical attention that evening. However, she had suffered a mouth injury, two lower teeth were chipped, and one tooth in her upper jaw had suffered a fracture at the root. She required significant dental treatment to repair the chipped teeth and replace the fractured tooth.

She also suffered a hand injury and soft-tissue injuries to her neck as a result of her fall.

After the incident, Ms McLuckie and a colleague inspected the paving slabs at the site of the trip accident and found that one paving slab was raised by around four centimetres. It later emerged that the building manager had been aware of the raised paving slab at the time of Ms McLuckie's trip and fall accident, but had not put any warning signage or cones in place to highlight the trip hazard.

The settlement

Thompsons' personal injury solicitors intimated a trip accident claim with the building owners who were responsible for the car park. Liability was admitted.

Expert medical reports were obtained from a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and a consultant in Restorative Dentistry confirming Ms McLuckie's injuries.

In the first instance the defender made a settlement offer of £10,000 which was rejected. The defender refused to increase the offer and court proceedings were duly raised in the All Scotland Personal Injury Court. We then received an offer of £11,000 from the defender. After discussion with Ms McLuckie, this offer was also rejected.

A further trip accident compensation offer of £13,500 was put forward and we advised Ms McLuckie that this represented a reasonable outcome.

This offer was accepted and settlement was agreed on 14 June 2022.