Whilst uncommon, we have taken on and won claims for personal injury compensation where people have been hit by swinging gates. The force of a gate swinging open can be quite a dangerous thing to be hit by, and the injuries can be fairly serious.
If this has happened to you, can you make a claim for personal injury compensation? Let’s take a look at some examples together with the law to find out.
Whether you can make a winning claim or not is a lot down to proving whether there has been negligence or not. If you’re a visitor somewhere then there is the Occupiers Liability Act that puts a general duty on those in control of a premises to take all reasonable steps to prevent a person from being injured. So on this point, we need to take a look at how this has happened.
You may have a claim in the following circumstances:
- The gate is not properly secured and swings open
- The gate is closed by an employee or someone in control of the property and it hits you
- The gate is defective resulting in it swinging and hitting you
Whether you’re on foot or have been hit driving through gates, you face the likelihood of being injured if you are hit by a swinging gate. If it comes at you with incredible force it can cause some serious damage.
If it’s down to not being secured or the gate being defective, those will be our arguments for negligence. In the scenario where someone has hit you with a gate, it often comes down to whether we can establish vicarious liability, which means that the employer of a negligent employee must compensate you. For example, let’s say a supermarket employee closes a gate on you – that makes the supermarket negligence.
The same can apply in the workplace for the above scenarios as well, and workplace regulations may apply in certain situations. These can actually be stricter and give you a better chance of winning a claim.
There can of course be valid defences to such claims. If the gate was damaged and whoever is in control of the gate was not aware, they could argue that their lack of knowledge of a hazard means they are not liable. Equally, the old ‘Act of God’ argument in cases of adverse and unexpected weather can be used as well.
In any event, it’s important to know that we will normally be able to offer you a full No Win, No Fee guarantee if you claim with us for a swinging gate accident. For help and advice, call our dedicated claims helpline on 080 634 75 75.
