Compensation Following Supermarket Sliding Door Accident

Doing the weekly shop can be a chore at the best of times, but for one gentleman it became a very real pain in the side. The gentleman, who had a pre-existing spinal problem that affected his mobility, was walking through the automatic sliding doors in his usual supermarket when they unexpectedly closed. Despite trying to get out of the way, the sliding doors managed to trap him, injuring his arm and the side of his back. The gentleman was understandably shocked and in the time it took for the supermarket staff to free him from the doors he became quite distressed.  The supermarket staff offered him comfort and logged the accident in their accident book.  When he left the supermarket, the gentleman was suffering from considerable back pain. When he came to see one of our experienced personal injury solicitors in Chester, they were able to advise and help him to submit a personal injury claim to the supermarket for spinal pain and mental shock. The company has a duty of care to make sure that their customers do not have an accident whilst in a supermarket. There was clearly a fault in the sliding doors, as they had unexpectedly closed and should have been out of commission. Our solicitor established that the supermarket had failed in its duty of care towards the gentleman and it was responsible for the accident. Bartletts’ personal injury specialists arranged a private medical examination which established that his existing spinal problems had been exacerbated by the accident. The gentleman had increased his dose of painkilling medication since the accident to cope with the pain and remain mobile. The supermarket sought to reduce the amount of compensation to the gentleman because of his pre-existing back condition. However our solicitor confidently negotiated a settlement of £3,500 in compensation for injuries on his behalf, enabling him to receive some private physiotherapy treatment.