A young woman, Rachel, was employed in a temporary Christmas role by Thorntons Plc, the popular chocolate retailer. Rachel was working in a Belfast city centre store in an attempt to save money for the upcoming festive season when she was asked by her employer to walk to their store room which is located on High Street, Belfast, a number of streets away from the store. Rachel was instructed to load an upright wheeled cage style trolley with stock and transport it back to the store to be sold to the Christmas revellers. Rachel, eager to impress in an attempt to gain a permanent position, did as she was asked despite the trolley being large and clunky.
Rachel struggles with the trolley
On the final leg of her journey whilst crossing the infamous manic zebra crossing on High Street, Rachel struggled to move the heavy trolley from the road onto the footpath because of the small lip of the curb stone. The young woman, who was on her own, was now blocking traffic and receiving awkward glances from unsympathetic Christmas shoppers. Rachel realised that she did not possess the strength to push the fully loaded trolley onto the footpath so attempted to pull it instead.
The trolley fell
Unfortunately, the top heavy trolley pivoted on the curb stone which caused it to fall towards Rachel, knocking her to the ground and crushing her under the extensive weight. The work accident had tragic timing and left Rachel with injuries, including a locked and swollen knee injury, impact bruising to her arm and pain to both her shoulder and the top of her chest.
A friend of Rachel recommended that she reach out to Paschal O’Hare Solicitors so that we could pursue a claim for compensation on her behalf for her accident. She took her friend’s advice and we gladly accepted her as a client, if for nothing else, to provide a young woman with some respite during what should be a comfortable and stress-free time of year.
Third-party insurers offered inadequate compensation
Liability was accepted by the insurance company of Thorntons Plc. We obtained a medical report from a consultant orthopaedic surgeon whose opinion was that our client’s symptoms should resolve within 15 months. We served the evidence on the defendant’s insurance company who made an offer of £1500. This offer was rejected out of hand as inadequate.
It became clear that a settlement could not be reached with the insurance company, leading us to issue court proceedings. When Thornton’s insurers realised our willingness to meet them in court, they appointed a firm of solicitors to re-enter negotiations with us in a hope that they would have more success. A settlement was reached quite quickly and Rachel received £5500 compensation for her accident at work, 3 times what the insurance company was originally prepared to pay.
If you were injured at work like Rachel, learn more about our service or contact us for free no obligation discussion on how we can help you too.
