The supermarkets are always crazy around this time of year with people madly rushing around to prepare themselves for Christmas! And with big stores like Tesco now not only doing food but selling most households products and all the latest in entertainment and fashion, they’re busier than ever!
So it’s no surprise that there can be an increase in claims around this time of year, but with Tesco being such a large UK-wide company we do generally take on and win a high volume of cases against them. Normally we’re talking slips, trips, and falls here.
So what are you rights if you have an accident in a Tesco store and you want to make a claim for personal injury compensation? Is it even possible to sue such a supermarket giant like Tesco?
Your Rights
The Occupiers Liability Act is an important piece of legislation that puts a duty on Tesco to take all reasonable steps to look out for your health and safety. They must have policies and systems in place to make sure that the store is free from any slipping, tripping or general hazards.
This can normally be achieved through training and regularly inspecting all areas of the store for hazards, and either removing them or placing signs or cordons around to prevent access to a hazard.
So if they fail to take all reasonable steps and you are injured in the store, you may well have a successful claim for personal injury compensation.
How does a claim work?
In most cases we will complete a Claim Notification Form and submit this electronically to either Tesco directly or to their insurers. We will then ask that they investigate the claim and accept responsibility within 40 working days from when we submit the claim to them.
If they accept fault, we should have already organised an appointment with a medical expert for you to see so we can use a report from the expert to value the claim and settle the case with the other side. Most cases settle out of court nowadays so it’s about gathering the medical evidence we need, looking at what losses and expenses you have (like lost earnings) and collating it all to form the basis of the value of your claim.
There’s a little to’ing and fro’ing with the other side as we want to get the most money we can for you and they will want to pay out as little as possible! But we should be able to settle on a good amount and you can then be compensated for your injuries and loss.
