An HGV Driver Slips on an Icy Works Car Park

What Happened?

Gareth* worked as an HGV Driver for a large national delivery firm. His job required him to be on the road early in the morning when motorway congestion is at its lowest. He needed to clock in each morning at 3:30 am, before getting on the road for 4 am. His employer operated a large Heavy Goods yard where Gareth would collect his vehicle for the day. Drivers were required to park their own vehicles on a staff car park situated outside of the main Heavy Goods Yard. Gareth arrived at 3:20 AM and parked his car. The weather conditions had been freezing during the night. There had also been a light rainfall which meant that the staff car park was icy in places. As he began to walk across a car park to the entrance gate of the Heavy Goods Yard, he slipped backwards on the frozen ground, banging the back of his head on the car park floor.

How Was He Affected?

Gareth’s head hit the floor with some force. He could recall being dizzy, confused and possibly unconscious for a short time. Within 24 hours, he also began to suffer neck, shoulder and back pains, which were subsequently diagnosed as being whiplash. Over the next few weeks, he continued to suffer from headaches, dizziness, vomiting and loss of balance. His GP advised that he was unfit for work due to concussion and continued to issue sick notes to Gareth for the next six weeks. Over time, Gareth developed persistent and ongoing migraines which he hadn’t experienced before the accident. During the six weeks that Gareth was hot off work, he was only paid Statutory Sick Pay by his employer which was around £85 per week, meaning that Gareth was approximately £300 a week worse off, after tax and National Insurance had been taken from his wages.

How Did We Win The Claim?

We were able to use our experience and knowledge of the Workplace Regulations and an Act called the Occupiers Liability Act to prove that Gareth’s workplace floor was dangerous and unsafe. We obtained historical weather forecasts to show that ice, rain and snow were expected overnight. We obtained the full Gareth’s employers company risk assessments which showed that they should have arranged for the car park to have been gritted. Finally, we obtained an admission from Gareth’s employer that they had not taken steps to grit the car park until later in the morning.

We forced Gareth’s employers to accept primary responsibility for the accident, but they continued to allege that Gareth had been partly responsible for his injuries by not taking more care. We calculated how much compensation Gareth would receive if his employer were found to be 100% responsible for the accident and made them an offer of this amount. When they did not accept the offer, we issued a court claim against them and within a few weeks, they agreed that they were fully responsible and that they would pay the full sum that Gareth had offered to accept before we started the court claim.

How Much Compensation Did He Receive?

We sent Gareth to both a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, whom we asked to provide a report on Gareth’s whiplash injuries and to a Consultant Neurologist to write a report about Gareth’s concussion and migraines. Gareth had suffered a difficult whiplash injury to his back, but he was more or less symptom-free within six months. Gareth’s employer’s solicitors agreed to pay him £2750.00 for these injuries.

The Consultant Neurologist who saw Gareth said that Garrett’s migraines for a period of six months after the accident would have been caused by the accident. He also agreed that Gareth’s concussion was caused by the accident and it was reasonable for him to be off work for six weeks. We agreed compensation of £3000.00 for Gareth concussion and migraines, meaning that his total award of damages for the pain and suffering he went through was £5750.00. We also obtained £1800.00 for his loss of earnings, and £225.00 that Gareth spent on physiotherapy. His total award of compensation was £7,775.00.

If you or someone close to you has been injured in a slipping accident at work, or in a shop, supermarket or any public place, The Claims Partnership will be happy to help you. All our services are No Win/No Fee. We never charge our clients for advice and always have time to chat on the phone, via text or by email. We will do our best to help you and point you in the right direction, even if we cannot take on your case.

You can contact us:

By Phone on 01772562084
By Email @ info@theclaimspartnership.co.uk
By Text on 07451279084

*In order to protect our client’s privacy and confidentiality, as well as to comply with the settlement terms that we have agreed with Defendants, our clients name has been changed, as have some other minor details.