Accident at work - warehouse - £125,000 received in compensation

Mr X was employed in a warehouse for a well-known supermarket. His job was to pick up produce from crates and carry it across the warehouse placing it into different bays for different stores. The crates had plastic bands around them which should have been removed fully before the crates were placed in the warehouse. Unfortunately, this did not happen and the bands were often left lying about. Mr X picked up some produce weighing approximately 20 kilos when his feet got caught in the bands causing him to fall and injure his back.

The claimant’s employers had a duty to ensure that the floor was kept free from anything likely to cause him to trip or slip and provide him with a safe place of work. They failed to do this and liability was admitted at the outset.

Another firm of solicitors initially advised Mr X that his personal injury claim was worth £3-4,000. Our team took over the case two years after the accident and obtained orthopaedic and psychiatric evidence which identified that our client had sustained a soft tissue injury to his back, symptoms from which should have been resolved within a relatively short period of time.

However, our client developed chronic pain reaction a recognised psychiatric disorder where he believed he was in chronic pain even though there was no organic explanation for his pain. He was unable to return to work, required large amounts of care on a daily basis and became wheelchair bound. The medical evidence showed that our client had a pre-existing orthopaedic condition which meant that had the accident not occurred he would have gone on to develop low back pain and chronic pain reaction in any event. The personal injury claim was limited to 5 years pain and suffering, loss of earnings and care. The case was settled for £125,000.

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