Personal injury small claim – where to take it/general advice?

How about a slide then everyone can have a bit of fun.

Wheeeeeee!

Sounds dangerous. Might bump into a disabled person in those spaces [this is Bradford, they’ll be on their way back from the gym using someone else’s blue badge and you’ll get injured on their hulking steroid-infused physique].

For the love of gawd….where is Jamie when you need him most?
Also…you are Kaesae and I claim my £5 (to be fair to him,he had an excuse and there were no lazers involved).

Nope. MissStripes and a 405nm Laser. All eyes still functioning, though there was a degree of arc-eye.

You know, at the risk of requiring my asbestos trousers, I can see the OP’s point.

I think, first and foremost, that’s a shit photo which does the OP no favours. Look at the brickwork in the side though; the bottom steps have a rise two bricks high, the top one is three. That’s quite a height difference and not immediately obvious from the angle we’re looking at.

I hate ambulance-chasing elfinsafety-gorn-mayd attitudes as much as the next keyboard warrior and am an advocate of “look where you’re going and take some responsibility” generally, but I can readily see how someone might get, erm, tripped up by that step.

I don’t think it’s quite at litigation levels, but I’d certainly expect an apology and brickie from whoever’s responsible for them.

All eyes still functioning, though there was a degree of arc-eye.

Is she Scottish?

Haha, no it’s just mostly UV and I was playing with it too much without eye-protection 😀

9/10 muffin-man – just needs animating.

EDIT: If we aim the laser at the bag, does this become “Arrrgghh my eye [and finger], I’m gonna sue!”

Keep ’em comming guys. Just off out for more popcorn.

Will mind my step whilst I’m out and about…

I can readily see how someone might get, erm, tripped up by that step.

Indeed there is a sizeable height difference but actually it’s smaller differences that are the most dangerous as they’re hard to see (my architect dad always used to say that if you wanted to get rid of your MIL just put a book under the carpet on one of the steps near the top of the stairs – you can take it out afterwards!)

Anyway, the OP clearly said, though, that his GF tripped on the tiddly lip at the bottom of the concrete ‘slope’ and not on the step. Needs to pick her feet up 🙂

She tripped first on the top step, then again on the lip because she’d been wrong-footed, no?

She didn’t trip on the top step, she was leaning extra forwards (edit, perhaps left knee still not quite straightened?) because it was higher and then her right foot caught the concrete lip as she went to walk away.

It was the combination of all things, the fall was then awkward as the ground was below her feet (from kerb height to car park). Hand rails would have helped too.

It’s Tesco, they’re not the most ethical company in the country.
Go get em!!!!

Bet tescos land ownership finishes at the top of stairs. Ask a lawyer. More use spending your time speaking to your mp and getting them made safe.

But as the op said, unless they get sued they don’t care.

More use spending your time speaking to your mp and getting them made safe.

So the STW advice goes, or therabout.

I’ve read this whole thread.

IME the best thing to do is to take direct action. A few ideas:
1. Spray paint a phallus onto the dodgy step with a note that the step is dangerous.
2. Write WET PAINT on the step which will confuse people enough to pay attention.
3. Curl one out which should have a similar effect as 2
4. Crash and set fire to a moped or similar on the steps late at night, thereby forcing the issue of step replacement.

HTC.

OP if you ‘sue’ them and lose they may come after you for their costs incurred and throw you down the Mattahorn stairs of doom. I.e FIVE steps 😯

I’ll add my two-penneth worth as I deal with claims like this for a living, on behalf of insurers and bodies such as councils and land owners.

The fact that a claim is being contemplated is not too unusual, I’ve dealt with far more dubious matters, including at the b&q store by Elland Road football ground, where a customer tripped over a kerb forming the landscaping between parking bays. The claim was defended but it was still taken on by a lawyer, they aren’t so fickle honestly. How about a skilled joiner drilling through a door to fit a lock and into the hand holding the door, yep he claimed but we defended it.

Best one, a male guest at a “massage parlour” cut his backside on a tile soap dish while being massaged in a shower. That went to court!

Looking at that photo, in my view the steps look “hazardous” from an occupiers liability perspective. That will be a area with high pedestrian traffic and it’s no defence to say there has been no previous fall. If they are uneven and hazardous then that is how they will be found to be, and liability will attach to the owner.

Claiming now is very easy. The lawyer submits the claim through an Internet site, it goes to the defendant or their insurer, they have 40 working days to investigate and respond. If they admit then medical evidence is needed.

Based on what the injury sounds like, you will probably be looking at £2500 for a fractured finger. These are all standard awards defined by JC Guidelines, that all insurers work to.

You can pretty much guarantee that if they admit liability, the steps will soon be fixed. If not, they won’t touch them as it could be deemed an admission.

All you need to decide is if you are the type to claim, some are, some aren’t. I see loads of absolutely genuine accidents and totally sympathise with the need for a claim. Others are clear try ons and verge on fraud.

I suspect you sit somewhere in the middle.

I sit on my bike, mainly 🙂

Better angle:

*cough* now signposted *cough*

😛

That’s got to be (sorry) dodgy ground, they’ve as good as just admitted they’re dangerous. Unless you stuck that there, of course…

Eeeerrrrr……

Just a little update (having seen another finger thread) The finger has, and will never recover fully. MissStripes can’t and probably will never be able to write properly again, and has pain in it every day.

If this were to happen to another person, my suggestion would be to persue it. There is little doubt in my mind that the steps were in an unacceptable, unexpectedly uneven or dangerous state, and the concequecses of this poor state of repair led directly to an injury with permanant effect.

A broken finger, near a joint, is a big problem.

Hope she heals well. I tripped and suprrmanned info tarmac recently and my knee still hurts abit although luckily it’s feeling better now 🙂 http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bashed-knee-when-rub-it-tingles-radiating-out-and-feels-numb%5D

The limitation period for personal injury claims is three years you still have time to do something.

Edit; If you feel they are faulty then you need to get them assesed professionally asap and take advice from someone if you feel they are faulty. All the best. Sometimes JRA are the hardest to deal with so I can understand you/your partner dealing with this/the effects.

I put the sign there.

I was convinced of the danger of the steps, but unsure whether or how to do anything further. In my usual “just try and do something useful” I put it there in the hope of drawing attention and preventing another injury.

If anyone else is in Bradford, I’d be interested if it’s still there, of if anything was done about the steps.

Gofast – I might sue you when I fall over walking up those steps. I think that sign may confuse more than help! People will be looking for a trip hazard when all they can see are steps, therefore they will get distracted from the difficult task of walking up said steps, trip and fall. They will demand some one to sue

Bring it, lol.

I’m guessing it’s better to resurrect this thread than post about it in the other one. I remember this thread from when you first posted and surprised I didn’t comment – I guess I couldn’t be bothered arguing with those who think you shouldn’t claim for any injury no matter how negligent the landowner is.

IMHO this case is substantively different to falling over on ice, and especially given the permanence of the injury and the failure of the landowner to address the issue, making a claim doesn’t seem at all unreasonable. Especially given the opinion upthread of those with more expertise than me suggesting you have a strong case. You’re certainly not too late to make a claim.