PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS’ SUCCESSFUL ACCIDENT AT WORK CLAIMS

March 24th, 2010 admin

Published in Truckstop News April 2010.

In this month’s issue Steven Hinchliffe of the specialist Personal Injury Compensation firm Hinchliffes Solicitors (see their advert on the front page) will consider more “PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS’ SUCCESSFUL ACCIDENT AT WORK CLAIMS”.

Continuing his review of successfully completed accident injury claims, Steven Hinchliffe looks at various situations experienced by readers of Truckstop News that ultimately lead to an award of personal injury compensation.

All of the accident victims mentioned in this series of articles are clients of my firm, Hinchliffes Solicitors. They have kindly given their permission for the disclosure of their details, and in particular of their real life experiences of incidents resulting in personal injury claims, and the steps taken to make a successful accident compensation claim. All of these clients contacted my firm after seeing our details in Truckstop News – and some of the names referred to may be familiar to you.

In this article I highlight 2 very different accidents in the working environment and examine the outcome for each individual. As with the previous articles in this series, the common trend remains the significant effect on each person’s life. Both of my clients sustained significant injuries and suffered financial losses as a result, including lost earnings. Although using the established legal processes for making personal injury claims as a means of redress cannot truly compensate for the trauma and inconvenience suffered, in appropriate cases it can assist in requiring the guilty party to provide medical treatment and rehabilitation, in addition to financial relief by way of awards of compensation. As previously stressed, the fundamental aim of all accident claims is to try and return the injured party to the position that he or she would otherwise have been in had the accident not happened.

CASE STUDY 1 – TIPPER TRUCK ROLLING OVER

On 31 October 2007 Mr P Vickers of Sheffield, who was employed by Hargreaves (UK) Services Ltd, was making a delivery of coal to The Monckton Coke & Chemical Company Ltd’s premises in Monckton at approximately 1.00am in the morning. As it was during the night the weighbridge was closed and there were minimal staff, so a Banksman was not available. Mr Vickers therefore had to do the best he could and so reversed the tipper truck to the usual dropping area, got out of the cab to make the necessary checks and then got back into the cab to raise the tipper. As the tipper got to its full height Mr Vickers felt movement and realised that the truck was toppling over, he therefore tried to get across to the passenger side but was thrown behind the seats by the force of the movement.

Mr Vickers suffered head, neck and back injuries, together with a broken rib. He also had a laceration to his thigh, which has left a permanent scar. It transpired that the point where he was required to tip was nothing more than a bed of previously tipped coal and the situation was made worse by very poor lighting. Clearly, the coal was an unstable base and that was the cause of the accident. Since then trailers now reverse onto a solid base, there is always a Banksman and a floodlight is used when natural light fades.

Had a proper tipping surface been provided with good lighting then this accident would not have happened. Such facilities are available now and could have been in place at the time of the accident. Regrettably, this is another example of inadequate planning that clearly put workers at risk.

A letter of claim was sent to the company on 18 February 2008 and the claim was swiftly admitted by their insurers on 19 March 2008. Once a medical report was obtained and Mr Vickers’ injuries had settled, we were able to settle his claim for personal injury compensation on 25 June 2008, just over 4 months after the letter of claim was sent. He received £3,750 for his injuries and £1,750 for his financial losses, which included a substantial sum for loss of earnings.

CASE STUDY 2 – FAULTY TIPPER TRUCK DOOR

Mr P (name withheld at client’s request) of Farnborough was employed as a truck driver by a haulage company. On 21 May 2004 he was making a delivery in Dartford using a tipper truck. After he had tipped he had difficulty closing the rear door as it did not line up with the frame, because of a missing support bar. In trying to force it shut his left index finger was trapped, which ultimately resulted in him having the finger tip amputated, leaving him with only 50% use of the finger.

Under the Limitation Acts it is a requirement that Court proceedings should be issued within 3 years of the accident or the claim is lost. Mr P contacted us on 18 May 2007, ie 3 days before expiry of the 3 year period. We felt he had a good case and issued proceedings immediately, thereby preserving his claim. Some months later his employer’s insurers denied liability for the accident on the basis that the company had no knowledge of the trailer used. The Court proceedings continued to run and a trial seemed likely, but in the end the employer’s insurers settled the case on 22 January 2008, but still maintained that the company was not to blame!

This was not an easy case to pursue and with Mr P working in Europe for much of the time communications with him were sometimes delayed. However, we had faith in the merits of the claim and worked hard to achieve a successful outcome, and I am pleased to say that Mr P received £6,500 in respect of the injury to his finger, plus £1,000 for his financial losses, part of which comprised his loss of earnings.

PERSONAL INJURY CLAIM SOLICITORS:-

If you have suffered any form of accident or contracted an industrial disease contact personal injury claims specialists Hinchliffes Solicitors for immediate legal advice, to find out if you are entitled to make a claim for personal injury compensation. All cases are conducted on a Free No Win No Fee claims basis, where you keep 100% of the compensation recovered.

Call now on 0800 138 1348 to speak direct to one of our specialist claims solicitors or go to our Start Your Claim Now page to submit details of your accident compensation claim online.