Supermarkets are renowned for being busy places and full of common hazards such as sliding doors and escalators. However, when a hazard has been reported to staff and no action is taken, an accident in a supermarket is just waiting to happen. This is just what happened to one gentleman who came to see Bartletts specialist personal injury lawyers in Chester.
The 64-year-old pensioner was visiting his local supermarket, and travelling on the travellator from one level to another when his finger was caught in a side panel that had come loose. He had come to no serious harm, but out of concern for other shoppers he reported the problem to the supermarket staff and then went on with his shopping.
Two weeks later, he returned to the same supermarket and used the same travellator, and again he got his finger caught in the missing panel of the escalator. This time, the speed of the travellator meant that the tip of his finger was sliced off, and started to bleed profusely.
He went to the accident and emergency department of the local hospital, who dressed and treated the wound. It took nearly six weeks to heal, but left him with permanent deformity to the top of his finger and some ongoing loss of sensation.
When the gentleman came to see Bartletts Solicitors, he was concerned that the supermarket had taken no action after he had initially reported the hazard, and put him and other shoppers in danger.
Our expert personal injury solicitor quickly set to work and established that the supermarket had failed in their duty of care to make sure the gentleman was safe while he was on their premises.
Bartletts Solicitors in Chester secured a good level of compensation for the gentleman to reflect compensation for personal injuries and compensation for out of pocket expenses, as well as sending a message back to the supermarket to take better note of customer’s safety concerns in the future.