Supermarket compensation claims are very common. With so many people using them on a daily basis, accidents are bound to happen. Whether it’s a slip, trip, or a fall, we’re taking on supermarket compensation claims on a continual basis.
But in an age where marketing is everywhere, we do take on and win claims for people who have been injured by signs. So what are your rights?
As a visitor to a supermarket, there is a duty of care owed to you. This duty of care is to take any and all reasonable steps to prevent you from being injured on the premises. So when the store is full of so many signs swinging above you and protruding from aisles, they can become surprisingly dangerous.
All it takes is for a sign to not be hooked up to the roof correctly, and it can do some serious and rather painful damage if it were to fall and hit someone. Similarly, signs can fall from fixed potions on shelves as well. So they can be dangerous.
So if this happens and you are injured as a result, you may be entitled to claim for personal injury compensation.
Can I win a claim?
We do have to show that the supermarket has breached the duty of care that they have for you. This isn’t always easy as we need to identify how the sign became dangerous or defective in the first place.
If an employee of the supermarket failed to adequately secure the sign or the sign has broken, you can generally stand a better chance than if a customer had caused a sign to be defective. The latter can of course happen, so it depends on what knowledge of the danger they had. It could also depend on if they have systems of inspection or maintenance for this kind of thing.
So what should I do?
If you didn’t report the incident at the time, report it as soon as you can. Seek medical attention for any injuries, and make sure you start the claim as soon as possible. There may be vital CCTV footage that could help a lot for the claim but it is only retained for a maximum of a few weeks. Once it has gone, it has gone – and this is something you need to be very wary of.
