London and Birmingham based solicitors specialising in Personal Injury & Accidents at Work, Education, Disability and Crime

Joe Harris* was working as a caretaker at a school when he was asked to assist teachers who were clearing a loft of some old records. They had a number of boxes of records to clear and Joe helped by taking the boxes down the ladder. This meant that he had to keep one hand on the box he was carrying and he could not hold on to the ladder with both hands. Also, the position of the box he was holding meant that he could not see where he was putting his feet very well. The result was that he had to feel his way down.

 

As Joe was descending the ladder with a box, he missed his footing. His foot went through the gap between rungs and he feel backwards. As a result he was diagnosed as having suffered a broken leg. He was in plaster and on crutches for several weeks. He was off work for 4 months. He did not lose any earnings as the council paid his wages but he was in a great deal of pain and he suffered a lot of inconvenience.

 

The accident would have been avoided if the council had made alternative arrangements to store records rather than in a loft. Once it became clear that boxes needed to be removed from the loft the council should have planned the job better and found a safer way of doing the job rather than leaving it to Joe to try his best to get the boxes down.

 

The council accepted liability but did try to argue that Joe was 50% to blame. He rejected that offer and continued with his case. The council offered him £3,500 which he rejected. He made a counter offer to settle for £5,000 which was accepted. The council will pay his legal bill.

 

*Joe's name has been changed to respect his privacy, but Joe's story is a true story.