On 24 July 2016, Gavin Perrie, who was employed as a general assistant at Tesco, was injured in his workplace. At the time of the accident Mr Perrie worked in the fresh department, where it was his job to bring in deliveries, stack shelves, and serve customers.

Mr Perrie had been working in the back of the store, getting stock out of the cold foods chiller unit. The handle of the chiller was broken. It had been broken for some time, and our client had reported it to management. Our client had been instructed to open the door with his shoulder until the handle was fixed, so he had been using his shoulder to open the door, but on 24 July he felt a pain in his shoulder as a result.

The Consequences

Opening the door in an unsafe way meant Mr Perrie sustained a soft tissue injury to his shoulder. Our solicitors instructed a medical report from a consultant orthopaedic surgeon to confirm the extent of the injury. The report allowed for a three month period of recovery. During this time, our client didn't need to take any time off work.

The Settlement

Mr Perrie believed his employer to be liable for the accident. The handle of the chiller unit should have been repaired as soon as reasonably possible following the first report of damage rather than instructing employees to open the unit in an unsafe way, which put them at risk.

Confident of Mr Perrie's chances of success, we proceeded to intimate a claim to his employer. Tesco responded with an offer of £1,250 in full and final settlement, However, this was before we instructed the medical report. After the medical evidence was presented to Tesco, an increased offer of £3,265 was put forward. We discussed this amount with our client, and he confirmed he wished to accept the offer. His case was settled on 5 September 2017.