On 17 November 2016, our client, a team manager at a call centre for Clydesdale Bank, was knocked over while using a zebra crossing in a Tesco car park.
Our client was exiting the supermarket, located on Glasgow Road in Kilmarnock, with her husband. They had just been shopping and were now making their way back to the car park. Our client had proceeded to cross the road on the zebra crossing outside the shop when the third-party vehicle turned out of an aisle in the car park and collided with her right-hand side. She fell on to the vehicle's bonnet and then on to the ground.
The consequences
The ambulance arrived after 40 minutes, during which time our client had to stay in the same position in the cold and rain. When she was taken to Crosshouse hospital, the staff x-rayed her right knee and ankle. She had to return to hospital five days later for a further check. It was confirmed the road traffic accident caused a soft tissue injury to our client's right knee, which took her five weeks to recover from. Following the accident, her right leg was bruised and swollen.
The injury caused our client to miss work. Her absence led to her losing her monthly bonus.
The settlement
Our client was referred to Thompsons' road traffic accident solicitors by her husband's union, Unite.
Because this accident involving a pedestrian had occurred in close proximity to a Tesco, CCTV footage was available from the store. The police reviewed this and concluded that the third-party driver's careless driving was to blame. They also said that that third-party driver had previous convictions for drink-driving and already had nine points on his licence (however, the police didn't think that he'd been drinking in this particular case).
With conclusive evidence proving the third party to be clearly at fault, we continued to intimate a claim to the driver's insurer. The defender admitted liability and the case was settled pre-litigation for a compensation award of £1,750.