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If you are unfortunate enough to sustain injury while doing your shopping, you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

There are many hazards at the supermarket to look out for, from spilt goods to high stacked shelves; and let’s not forget all the trolleys whether it be other shoppers or staff frantically transporting goods throughout the store. Such accidents come under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957. This law deals with lawful visitors whereas the Occupiers Liability Act 1984 deals with unlawful visitors or trespassers.

Obviously, as you visit the supermarket to do your shopping, you are a lawful visitor under the 1957 Act. This means that the supermarket owes you a duty of care to ensure that you are safe whilst in their premises.
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Unfortunately, criminal assaults are commonplace nowadays – particularly on a Friday or Saturday night when you’re out on the town and some scourge of society decides to set upon you like a neanderthal for what can only be described as ridiculous reasons; normally involving alcohol. But the question here is whether you can make a claim for a criminal assault or not. Luckily, you may be able to make a claim.

If you were set upon intentionally, it can fall within the realms of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. This government body, often referred to as the CICA, pays out compensation to the victims of criminal assaults if you meet their criteria. It’s basically a compensation scheme to help victims of assaults claim compensation for the injuries they have suffered.

As it’s a compensation scheme, you must qualify for their strict criteria. If you fail to satisfy one or more of their key criteria, you may find it difficult to make a claim. Here’s a breakdown of the common key criterions:
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It’s a nightmare – you’ve gone abroad and ended up coming down with food poisoning! It can easily happen, especially in countries where hygiene standards are not as good as ours. On top of that, food and water compositions are different and that can have an effect on our digestive systems as well.

If you do come down with food poisoning on holiday, can you make a claim? It’s all circumstantial to be honest…

Firstly, food poisoning normally doesn’t last a long time. Most people will only suffer for just a few days. Whilst those few days are painful to cope with, making a claim with a lawyer can be difficult. Circumstance-wise, if you can prove the food poisoning was caused by a place you were saying at, for example, you have good prospects for a claim. But unless the claim is worth in excess of £1,000.00, a lawyer will struggle to act on a No Win, No Fee basis as £1,000.00 is the minimum amount that allows a solicitor to recover their legal fees from the other side. So, whilst you might have a good claim, it may be classed as a “small claims matter” which you would need to seek compensation through a small claims court in the majority of cases.
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So, you are a cyclist, you are doing your bit for the environment whilst keeping fit at the same time, so why oh why did that car have to smack into you!?

Road traffic accidents between cyclists and motor vehicles are unfortunately very common, and guess who comes off worse? It’s a bit of a daft rhetorical question to be honest…

As a cyclist you are one of the most vulnerable road users and can be seriously injured if involved in a road traffic accident with a motor vehicle. After all, the only real protection you have is a helmet or some shin and elbow guards.
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A ladder is undoubtedly a helpful piece of equipment – but with its helpfulness comes potential danger. Although using a ladder is seemingly simple, there are certain things that should be considered prior to mounting that first step.

Defective Ladders

One of the most straightforward matters to deal with is when somebody sustains an injury from using defective ladders. All ladders must be sufficiently strong and suitable for the purposes to which they are being used for. Although it is mandatory for employer’s to carry out a risk assessment prior to any employee using a ladder, it is also a good idea to inspect any ladders before beginning to use them-for example: if the ladder appears worn, consider whether this will realistically support your body weight. Also ask yourself; are these the ladders I’d usually use for this task? If you do have an accident from using defective ladders, we may be able to establish a breach of an absolute duty, and you may have the right to claim.
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If you have been involved in a road traffic accident as a motorcyclist then you could be suffering from some serious injuries.

Although motorcycle riders have helmets and thick leather clothing to wear to aid protection, frankly, this is no substitution for the protection other drivers have in cars and vans etc. This is why motorcyclists are so vulnerable if involved in an accident.

Injuries caused by being involved in an accident as a motorcycle user can range from minor scuffs and scrapes to broken bones and even sometimes fatal injuries.
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As it just so happens, not only have I been advising people about claims for compensation for many years now, but I am somewhat of an expert in sporting injuries myself. I sadly suffered one of the worst sporting injuries you can sustain in January this year (multi ligament ruptures in the knee resulting in nerve damage and needing an operation for multi ligament reconstruction surgery and a nerve graft), and the nightmare its put me through has been enough to know I’m not going to be playing football again anytime soon (if ever!)

The problem is that sporting injury claims are not easy to win. For a claim for compensation to be successful, two key ingredients need to be satisfied – there has to be negligence (i.e. someone at fault for what’s happened) and your injuries have to have been caused by the aforementioned fault.

Now, when you take part in sport, by law, you accept that there are risks involved. If you play football you accept that in a midair jump for the ball, you could hit an opposing player who is also jumping for the ball, and you can both end up falling awkwardly. You accept that you can be tackled and taken down, which can inherently cause injury through impact of the opposing player sweeping you from your feet. You accept that you can fall awkwardly as I did and rupture several vital ligaments in your knee and rupture a nerve as well, leaving you with potentially permanent damage.
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Industrial lung diseases (also known as occupational lung diseases) include mesothelioma, occupational asthma, silicosis, and asbestosis. Exposure to asbestos in particular is well known to be dangerous, although it can be a number of years between exposure to asbestos fibres and the symptoms or injury coming to light.

Asbestos may be present in old buildings and is thought to pose no risk if left undisturbed. However, as buildings are demolished or renovated, extra care should be taken as asbestos becomes the so called “silent killer” when it is disturbed or damaged. Exposure to certain types of other materials such as gases, liquids, dusts or fumes may also cause some forms of industrial lung disease.

Exposure to asbestos can cause mesothelioma, a form of cancer. Even if you have been exposed to asbestos a number of years ago, you are still at risk of developing mesothelioma in the future. Generally mesothelioma does not show up until some 20 to 40 years after the exposure to asbestos.
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I’d like to think that most of us get through life without any major incidents or bust ups. The problem is every town or city you go in can end up with you inadvertently being involved in trouble. You could be having a quiet drink with your mates on a Friday night and for some reason some societal scum decide they don’t like the cut of your jib – before you know it, you’ve been hit in the face, or seriously assaulted.

I’m lucky that I’ve never been involved in any serious trouble like this, but there are thousands of innocent victims out there who end up being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and suffer injuries because of someone else’s neanderthalic behaviour. But the main question is, how do victims of assaults get any compensation for what’s happened?

Pursuing a claim against an individual is not really the easy way forward. They will probably not have any insurance to claim from, and probably won’t have the funds to compensate you – nor will they know how to deal with a claim against them. Ultimately, it’s not the most viable option; thankfully, there is an alternative.
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“A man [has] an absolute right to be (on the road) and it is a duty of drivers of vehicles not to run him down” (Craig v Glasgow Corporation (1919) 35 TLR 214). In the old times, when car travel was beyond imaginable and pedestrians and horses ruled, this was the prominent view for pedestrians’ liability. However, now that car travel is the norm, the modern approach places more responsibilty on the pedestrian to exercise due care when stepping off the kerb.

Although the Highway code is often viewed as guidance for drivers, the first 33 paragraphs relate to the rights and duties of pedestrians; for example, ‘pavements should be used if provided’ and ‘wear or carry something light-coloured, bright or fluorescent in poor daylight conditions’. The former is common sense to many but the latter is arguably questionable. How many people think of choosing their brightly coloured clothing to wear on a dark depressing day or at night when going to the theatre, just incase they need to walk on the road?

The most famous set of rules for a pedestrian’s duty is contained within rule 7 and is the message that has been bombarded to us at school and throughout the media for so many years – The Green Cross Code. 
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