Accidents in Public Places

A man who suffered severe brain damage when he slipped and fell on an uneven public road in North London has received an interim payment of £75,000. Kyle Bullock, 33, was walking with friends down a steep and poorly maintained road when the accident...

A boy who was left with severe brain damage after he was injured in a fall at a children’s nursery has been awarded a sizeable settlement in compensation. The accident happened when James Pitcher was just nine months old. He fell off a changing table...

A British holidaymaker who was badly injured in a crash while on a bus tour in Malaysia has been awarded £90,000 in compensation at the High Court. Gail Griffin, 46, and her husband were on an adventure holiday, travelling from Tanjung Gemok in...

A woman who was injured when a stack of doormats fell from a high shelf in a hardware store has won £20,000 in compensation. The woman, who was browsing in an aisle of the store, was suddenly hit on the head and shoulder by the thick rubber doormats....

A rugby player from Wales whose jaw was broken when he was punched by an opponent has been awarded £1,500 in compensation. Richard Mark Williams was playing in a Swalec Cup game when the incident occurred. He was kicking the ball downfield and an...

A man who fell from a London bus and suffered severe head injuries has been awarded a seven-figure compensation settlement. Vincenzo Bollito, a 36-year-old designer, was between the doors of the bus when the driver closed them and accelerated down the road....

A student who was injured after a pub seat collapsed underneath him has received £1,200 in damages from the brewery. Faisal Hakeem, 20, was out with friends at a bar in Manchester when the bench on which he was sitting gave way. A protruding nail...

A woman left brain damaged after being trampled by cows whilst out walking her dog along a public footpath has won damages from the farmer. Shirley McKaskie, 54, was walking her Jack Russell puppy across farmland. She had wandered a short distance from the...

A pensioner who tripped on a pavement and suffered serious injuries to her face and jaw has won a substantial amount in compensation. Joan Heppenstall, 75, tripped on a raised paving slab on the way back to her car after visiting a friend. Her jaw hit the...

When a spillage on a road causes an accident, it is often difficult to determine who was responsible for the hazardous conditions. However, a cyclist who was injured after getting stuck in farm waste has received an undisclosed amount in compensation from...

A schoolboy who was badly hurt when he was dragged under the wheels of a bus is in line to receive a substantial sum in compensation. Luke Murtagh, now aged 15, was running for the bus, which had just left the bus stop. He knocked on the window in the...

An 11-year-old boy who was struck by a trolley whilst trying on trainers in a sportswear shop has been awarded £1,800 in damages. The accident occurred after the boy sat down to try on some trainers but found he couldn't get his heel into the shoes....

A woman who was injured on an airline flight when returning from holiday has won £6,500 in compensation. The woman was flying back from a holiday in Kuala Lumpur. She was in the toilet cubicle when a metal cabinet fell from the wall and hit her on the...

A cyclist has been awarded £14,000 in compensation after he was injured when a dog ran under the wheel of his bicycle. Ken MacLennan, 65, was cycling though a park when a spaniel that had been let off its lead ran into his path. Mr MacLennan was...

The family of a man killed by a bus that mounted the pavement has been awarded compensation at the High Court. The accident occurred in 2004. Bent Hjerting, 61, was walking with his two sons, Harald and Gustavus, when two buses collided and one veered onto...

The owner of a flower shop has failed in her bid to hold a commuter partly responsible for a fall that occurred on the pavement outside her London shop. In July last year Brian Piccolo, 50, won the right to damages for injuries he sustained as he was...

A landmark decision of the House of Lords could pave the way for some victims of sexual abuse to claim compensation from their attackers many years after it took place. Mrs A, a retired teacher, has won the right to sue for damages a man who attacked her...

Supermarkets owe customers a reasonable duty of care to ensure that they can carry out their shopping safely without the risk of injury. A woman who was injured by falling soup cans in a supermarket recently won £2,000 in compensation. The woman, who...

A cleaner who slipped in a puddle of water at the shopping centre where she worked has been awarded £3,500 in compensation. Susan Marriott, 51, worked at the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield. She had been asked to place warning cones around...

A man whose life was ruined after he was hit on the back of the neck in a freak accident has been awarded £1m in compensation. John MacMaster was standing outside a London pub when the accident occurred. A sun lounger blew off the roof of the pub and...

A woman has been awarded £2,602 in compensation for an injury she suffered whilst travelling on a bus. The woman was the only passenger on the bus when the accident occurred. She was seated in the first row of seats behind the driver. She noticed that...

A nursing assistant who fell down a stairway on her way to get her car out of the garage has been awarded £108,750 in compensation. Agnes Wilson, who was 57 at the time of the accident, was on her way to work when the accident happened. She was...

A company with a long-hours culture has been found liable for an accident which left an employee paralysed.   Michael Eyres, 23, worked for Atkinsons Kitchens and Bedrooms Ltd. in Bradford. Late one evening, he was driving a van back to Bradford...

As of 23 April 2007, measures introduced under the Compensation Act 2006 establish a regulatory framework for claims management services. Such services can only now be provided by those authorised to do so or those exempt from authorisation....

A woman who was knocked down by a car at a pedestrian crossing has received £8.5 million in what is believed to be one of the largest ever compensation awards of its type. Leanne Evans, now 22, was hit by a car at a pelican crossing not far from...

Two victims of dog attacks have recently received compensation for their injuries.   In the first incident, a ten-year-old girl was bitten on the arm by a dog when her father stopped to talk to its owner. The injury required surgery at the time and a...

  A shopper has won £243,750 in compensation after being crushed by a reversing truck. Candace Donaldson, 58, who had been shopping at Argos in Inverness, had gone to the loading-bay area to collect her goods. She walked into one of the...

A passenger has been awarded compensation after being injured travelling on a night ferry from Jersey to Portsmouth.   George Shimmans, an electrical craftsman, was returning home on the ferry after a business trip when the accident occurred. He was...

The level of the damages awarded as compensation for personal injuries has risen slightly in the last year, with typical rates now being as follows:   minor whiplash (full recovery within 2 years), between £2,500 and £4,600; ...

A charity worker who had his finger severed by a dog has been awarded almost £7,000 in compensation. Peter Ball, 72, was putting an RNLI leaflet through the letterbox of Kenneth Belfield when a dog bit off the tip of his index finger.   Preston...

A schoolgirl who witnessed a stricken plane heading towards her house is to receive £27,500 in compensation for post-traumatic stress. The  Korean Airlines Boeing 747 crashed just a few minutes after it had taken off from Stansted in December...

The Court of Appeal has ruled against arguments put forward by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in its prosecution of Hatton Traffic Management (HTM) Ltd. following the death of two workers in an accident on the A66, near Scotch Corner. The men were...

There are over 1,500 deaths from skin cancer in the UK every year and the number is increasing. As summer approaches, the GMB union has issued a warning to those who work outdoors and their employers to take measures to reduce work-related risks from...

A Staffordshire woman suffered 65 per cent burns after she was trapped under an electric sunbed for two and a half hours. Melanie Wraith had rented the sunbed from Terence Howell, the former owner of a sunbed rental business in Stoke-on-Trent. When she first...

A Durham man who was injured when trying to put away a bouncy castle was recently awarded £33,750 in compensation for a serious lower-back injury. The 51-year-old man was trying to move the rolled-up bouncy castle onto a trolley when the load shifted...

The Court of Appeal has held (Keown v Coventry Healthcare NHS Trust) that a child who climbed a fire escape, which was not itself in disrepair or dangerous, knowing that there was a risk of falling and that what he was doing was dangerous, was not owed a...

When the Government announced that it did not plan to implement a comprehensive ban on smoking in enclosed public places this was described by the Chairman of the British Medical Association as a ‘wasted opportunity to protect the public’s...

As most people know, the musical ‘The Sound of Music’ has a happy ending – or it usually does anyway. The perennial favourite is often presented in ‘sing-along’ form with members of the audience invited to dress up in costume...

The Government has announced that the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) is to be revamped, offering increased compensation to those who suffer serious injury as a result of crime. The way the current scheme works has been heavily criticised for...

The House of Lords has dashed the hopes of claimants who have suffered from the effects of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after ruling that the test case against China Airways and British Airways, brought by 8 people claiming that they developed DVT as a result...

The family of a banker who died when the plane he was piloting crashed at RAF St Mawgan, near Newquay in Cornwall, has won a £5m damages settlement from the Ministry of Defence (MOD). In June 2001, Hugh Paton was piloting a Cessna light aircraft,...

When someone has suffered an injury at work, they may wish to return to their job, or to other work with the same employer, as soon as they possibly can. A driver for Virgin Trains, who claimed that his employer had failed in its duty to make adjustments to...

A Kent teenager has won the right to seek damages in the High Court after falling through the roof of the youth club at the Eden Valley School in 2001. Sixteen year-old Stephen Young climbed onto the roof of the youth club one night to retrieve a ball....

A Manchester ambulance worker, who lost his job after 21 years, has accepted a settlement of £140,000. He had to give up work as a result of a back injury sustained in 1999 when a trolley, on which we was supporting a patient, collapsed. ...