An HGV Driver Trips Over a Plastic Binder Left on the Floor By a Colleague

What Happened?

Susan* worked as a shunter in a Heavy Goods Vehicle yard for a large delivery firm. Her job was to move lorries and trailers to the correct bay within the companies Heavy Goods Vehicle yard, so that they were in the right position for their drivers to collect them when their shift began. She worked throughout the night and was constantly driving and walking throughout the depot to pick up vehicles.

The HGV yard was attached to a warehouse and Susan regularly found herself walking over pieces of cardboard and packaging, as well as heavy duty plastic ties which have been taken off the boxes and discarded. Unless the plastic ties had been cut by a Stanley knife, they formed an unbreakable loop, meaning that any pedestrian might place their feet in them and a trip. They were a constant hazard to Susan who had to tidy them up as she went along. She regularly complained about the danger they presented having fallen over a couple of times when she had stepped on them.

The accident happened at 3 AM when she stepped on an unseen plastic tie with her right foot. She then caught her left foot in the loop and could not move forward. This caused her left ankle to twist badly and she fell to the ground.

How Was She Affected?

Susan suffered a very difficult soft tissue injury to her left ankle. She was in a great deal of pain and could not walk for months. More importantly, she could not use her left foot to press the clutch pedal on the lorries and could not do her job. She underwent a couple of operations to repair the soft tissue injuries to her foot. Even though these operations were partially successful, she found that after just a couple of hours of her shift, her left ankle became too sore for her to press the clutch pedal and carry on driving.

Approximately three years after the accident and after trying to return to work several times, she agreed with her employers that she could no longer carry on working in that job and accepted redundancy.

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 Susan’s workplace floor was dangerous and unsafe. After Susan’s employers initially denied that it was unsafe, we started a court claim against them and they quickly accepted that Susan’s workplace had been dangerous.

How Much Compensation Did He Receive?

We sent Susan to a specialist Consultant Ankle Surgeon. We asked the Surgeon to investigate and give an opinion as to whether Susan could ever go back to the job of driving a truck. Our Surgeon agreed with us that Susan could never really go back and even though her employers Surgeon felt she could drive safely through a long shift, Susan’s employers eventually accepted that she could not.

We negotiated £20,000 in compensation for Susan’s injuries, £44,000 for her loss of earnings and £32,000 for the impact her injury had on her employability in future. With additional damages for the care and help that she had received from her family, as well as private medical treatment, Susan received £110,000 in compensation.

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.