Weighbridge Trip caused Torn Ligaments

Our client, who is employed as a delivery driver, arrived at premises where he was to make a delivery.  After offloading his delivery, our client drove towards the exit.  Our client had been instructed to exit via the weighbridge so he drove onto the weighbridge and got out of his lorry in order to collect the paperwork.  After he’d got out of the cab, he stood back to shut the cab door and his foot went over a raised edge, causing him to fall.

 

Lawson-West began a personal injury claim.  The accident was the fault of the occupiers of the premises where the delivery was made because they:-

 

·         failed to keep the weighbridge area free from obstruction;

·         failed to provide or maintain a safe means of access to every place at which our client had to work or make and keep safe the place in which our client was working;

·         failed to discharge common duty of care to see that our client was reasonably safe when using the premises;

·         caused, permitted or suffered the surface next to the weighbridge to become or remain a hazard;

·         failed to devise, institute, operate or ensure the institution or operation of any or any adequate system of housekeeping in order to ensure the premises were kept free of tripping hazards;

·         exposed our client to a foreseeable risk of injury;

·         instructed our client to walk in the weighbridge area when it was unsafe to do so;

·         failed to warn our client of the dangers of walking in the weighbridge area or prevented him from using the weighbridge;

·         failed to take any or any adequate care for the safety of our client;

·         breached statutory duties under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957.

 

After his fall, it took several minutes before someone came to help.  The accident was recorded in the accident book.  Our client phoned his employer to tell them about the accident.  He managed to drive back to his employer’s premises where he continued working.  However, on the day after the accident, he attended hospital where he was diagnosed as having torn ligaments in his ankle.

 

Lawson-West recovered accident compensation of £1750 for our client’s injuries along with compensation for loss of earnings as our client had to take time off work following the accident.