Supermarket Employee Awarded Damages For Thumb Injury
The Claimant, a minor at the time of the accident, sustained personal injury during the course of his employment.
The Claimant worked for a large supermarket chain in the cold meats section and was in the process of serving a customer. He went to use the electrical meat slicer and switched the machine on. The circular blade started to turn at high revolution. It was at this point that he noticed that a colleague had left a piece of meat against the blade. He tried to remove the meat without switching off the machine and in the process sustained a laceration to his right thumb.
A claim was raised against his employers, who passed this on to their liability solicitors to deal. Liability was denied, the Defendant alleging that the Claimant was showing off to another member of staff. Furthermore, they also claimed that he had been trained fully on the machine.
Personnel records were obtained and it was clear that the Claimant received training only after the accident had taken place. Once this issues was raised liability was then admitted in full.
Medical evidence was obtained and the report stated that the Claimant would not suffer any long term affects. Initially the Defendant offered the Claimant the sum of £1,500. Damages were finally settled for £2,000.
The Claimant's case was dealt with under a no win no fee agreement and he was very happy with the level of compensation he received.