A Thompsons client has received £6,750 after suffering an accident at work on 17 November 2012. Our client came to us through his union, who funded his claim.

The man fell whilst he was retrieving a parcel from a trailer in his workplace. He worked as a warehouse operative in a large delivery company. As he was closing the rear door of the trailer, the handle he was using to close the door snapped and he fell backwards off the trailer.  There were breaches of the Provision in Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

As a result of the accident our client sustained an injury to his right wrist and right ankle.  He attended Monklands Hospital and subsequently his GP and a physiotherapist.  He was absent from work and lost overtime as a result of that absence.

Our client’s employers sough to put at least some of the responsibility for the accident onto him however we were able to obtain helpful evidence from other members of staff to confirm his actions were common practice  and part of his duties.

It was clear that this case could not be settled with the insurers given their attitude pre litigation. A court action was therefore raised in the Court of Session in Edinburgh to obtain suitable compensation.  After rejecting a lower settlement proposal our client happily concluded his case for £6,750. The case was dealt with by our solicitor, Laura McGee, who commented “This was an excellent result given that the insurers were arguing our client was partly to blame for this accident. Our client was very grateful to his colleagues for providing helpful statements to assist us in our legal arguments. This case goes to show that the insurers comments should never be taken as red; we will do all that we can to ensure clients obtain the maximum compensation which they are due.”