A Painful Injury Suffered During a Night Out

Slips, trips and falls are among the most common injuries in the UK and unfortunately these injuries can happen at any time, even on a night out!

Liz was enjoying an evening out with friends at a north-west nightclub. It was a large venue spread over three floors but Liz had the misfortune to slip on the top step and tumble down a staircase. Liz was in immediate pain and as her friends picked her up they noticed that the stairs were wet. The club did not take the incident too seriously and Liz and her friends were escorted from the venue, rather unceremoniously!

Events took a more serious turn when, after going to the hospital, doctors found that Liz’s elbow had been dislocated so severely that it was in need of replacement. Her injury would cause not only discomfort but years of treatment and physical therapy. Worse still Liz was also told that she might need further elbow replacements over her lifetime. All as the consequence of a wet stair! This is when she came to Irvings Law for help.

The club’s representatives quickly denied our claim, saying the accident was not their fault. Perhaps they hoped that Liz would give up at this point, but we advised her to carry on and moved the claim towards a trial. We knew that the club had to show that they had a system in place for managing health and safety hazards to prevent injuries, and also be able to show how that system was working. We believed in Liz’s claim and felt that the evidence presented by the club’s representatives showed that this care was lacking. There was no doubt about the severity of the injuries suffered and shortly before trial we were contacted with an offer. Liz was happy to reach a settlement of over £30,000 that covered not only her injuries but also therapy and the potential future problems.

In Liz’s case what seemed like a minor accident turned out to have really serious consequences. Yet injuries arising from slip, trips and falls are often preventable if employers and property managers take simple steps to manage the risks. If you ever have the misfortune to be in a similar position then see if we can help.

Lee Wall
Solicitor, Irvings Law