I have authored a couple of articles on the MOD and the seemingly problem-filled compensation schemes in place for our injured war heroes – and Defence Chiefs have once again appeared on the wrong side of the news with a crazy compensation payout that you might not even believe!

According to sources from The Sun (source), a poultry farmer has been paid £42,000 in compensation because his chickens have “laid less eggs” due to noise from the Red Arrows scaring them! In fact, the MOD has paid out around £7.6 million in damages to people for noise related complaints… So why on are our brave injured soldiers receiving just a fraction of that sum?

According to the report, the Ministry of Defence spent the massive sum over a period of four years due to noise complaints from the Staffordshire poultry farmer, which came to light from a Freedom of Information request from The Sun. In fact there is more; see if you can match these sums to the victim:
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The football tournament the Africa cup of nations started last night with a pulsating 4-4 draw between the hosts Angola and Mali.  However, the tournament has been overshadowed by an attack on the Togo national team bus as the country’s players and football staff entered the country.

Within seconds of crossing from the Republic of Congo in to Cabinda in Angola, gunmen opened fire on the bus using machine guns, killing the bus driver and injuring many more. Sources have now confirmed that the death toll has risen to three in the days following the incident.

The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (Flec) has stated that it carried out the attack.
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Asbestos; a potentially hazardous silicate when its fibres are inhaled by humans, has been in and out of the press so many times over the past decades with court cases for compensation and stories of the illnesses it can lead to. According to BBC sources (source) UK insurance companies have been attempting to invalidate Scotland’s asbestos compensation act!

After a 22 day hearing at Court of Session, Lord Emslie ruled to reject the insurance companies bid to actually invalidate the law which gives victims the right to claim for the compensation they are entitled to!

The act allows sufferers of pleural plaques (which is not classed as a disease and has no symptoms, but does signify an increased risk of developing mesothelioma from the asbestos exposure) to claim for compensation, with insurers stating that it benefits a small number of people who have suffered no harm and is therefore a “disproportionate and excessive burden on insurers running into hundreds of millions, if not billions, of pounds”.
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Hope you had a lovely…incident free…New Year and are ready and raring to go for 2010!

Unfortunately, as you have all probably seen the cold weather is still upon us and appears to be worse than ever. Temperatures dropped below freezing and many of us seeing snow showers (some more than others!), it’s not the warmest welcome to 2010 I have to say.

I know it may seem that we keep ‘banging on’ about how dangerous the cold weather is but that’s because it is a daily reality and the ongoing cold weather can only lead to more problems on our roads. We want our blog readers to be as safe as they can be over the next few weeks.

Sky News have this evening reported on only a small handful of incidents around the country due to the snow and ice which is causing havoc on Britain’s roads.
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We all feel that we have been let down by our local health authority on some occasion whether it be the length of time you had to wait for your appointment or being told that you can’t have an appointment for ‘X’ number of weeks.

For some people they only know too well how it feels to be let down by the people whom you should be able to rely on the most.

The family of a patient under the care of Hywel Dda Health Board (Carmarthenshire Local Health Board) will be the first to tell you of their disappointment of the care provided to their severely injured son.

The young gentleman whom is only being referred to as ‘Mr B’ was left with serious brain injuries after being assaulted in July 2006. He was hospitalised for 10 months and required 24 hour nursing care.
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We have more on negligent drivers and near serious accidents on Britain’s roads – which all come during our big freeze which I am not going to write about, as I am sure you are all quite tired of the same press coverage on the issue, and my many recent articles on the subject!

Ashley Cole and a Swiss millionaire – two people I recently wrote about in my articles related to speeding offences. Well how do these new names grab you – Harriet Harman and Jermaine Defoe. One is the Labour Party Deputy Leader and the other is a well known striker for Spurs. Both have been recently convicted of driving offences:

According to The Sun (source) Harriet Harman has pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention – she has been fined £350 and ordered to pay £75 worth of costs, and a victim surcharge of £15. She has also received three points on her driver’s license. Not the heaviest of penalties; my only hope are these fines don’t turn up on her next MP  expense claim form!
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So the arctic conditions are continuing and the freezing temperatures have frozen the snow layered grounds causing what I am going to describe as ridiculously slippery conditions! Just this morning walking to my car (no more than 40 metres) was an epic battle as maintaining my footing and the pathway was difficult at best. The ice was around an inch thick alone, and not fun to walk (or should I say, skate) on.

So, what’s the best thing to do if you must use your vehicle? The BBC has very handily provided some solid advice for motorists on how to prepare for a journey out in to the snow:
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Yes yes, I know, a number of my recent articles have been on the weather! But let’s face it, it’s the big thing at the moment and as of yesterday it just got 10 times worse here as the snow pretty much disrupted everything from businesses to schools to the mass transit system!

And I know what you may be thinking; another article on the weather – that old chestnut! But it just seems to be getting worse and worse, and the floods of weather related new claims are coming in! But it is important to know when you can and can’t claim, particularly when the weather is a major contributory factor…

Just before Christmas, our Principle Solicitor Mr. Aman Johal was requested by Sky News to comment on claiming for injuries people are sustaining due to the weather, in light of accident and emergencies reporting significant increased admissions for fractures resulting from people falling on ice! The Sky News article (source) reported that some A+E’s had to open extra operating theatres to cope with the increase.
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Oil giant Shell and two of its contractors have been fined £283,000 by the Health and Safety Executive following an accident at one of their oil refineries which left a worker paralysed from the waist down.

According to The Times, the accident occurred at the Ellesmere Port  complex in Cheshire in 2007. A 500 kilogram container fell from a height of 30ft down on to the walkway below, landing on Mr Stephen Rizzotti and breaking his back, pelvis and both legs, leaving him wheelchair bound. The HSE labelled the incident as “totally avoidable” and Shell pleaded guilty to contravening the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 at Warrington Crown Court. Shell and its contracting companies conceded that they had “failed to provide a safe working environment” but did note that they “have taken steps…to prevent a recurrence” since the accident.

It is important that the HSE continues to put to task companies who fail in their duty of care to their employees and the scale of this fine will hopefully spur on Shell to continue to make safety adjustments where necessary to ensure that not only is there no recurrence of this incident but also that future potential safety hazards are identified and reasonable provisions put in place to limit the chances of accidents occurring. Employers are required to perform risk assessments on their system of working and operations in general and this is an ongoing requirement which needs regular review to ensure the safety of employees.
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Speed limits are there for a reason – to keep us all safe on the roads! And it’s no secret that many road traffic accidents occur because of the speed limit being broken. So are there any excuses for people ignoring these important life saving limits? Well, unless you’re a member of the emergency services, there certainly is not!

According to BBC reports, England football star Ashley Cole is being prosecuted for speeding in his Lamborghini after he was caught by police travelling at 104mph in a 50 zone when he was caught by a laser speed camera in November last year (source).  

The Chelsea left-back, who did not appear in court, has stated to officers that he was being harassed by paparazzi when he decided to go twice over the speed limit on the A3 in Kingston. Now I can’t imagine it’s easy to be constantly followed by the press looking for a story, but it’s certainly no excuse for dangerous driving risking the lives of other road users and the local public. When Cole was stopped he informed police he was aware it was a 50 zone and claimed to have been travelling at 80mph to get away from the harassment of the paparazzi.
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