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10th June 2008

Personal Injury Compensation Awarded After Failure To Apply Risk Assessment Findings

A visit to an adventure park resulted in a broken ankle for our client, who asked us to represent her in bringing an accident claim for personal injury compensation following an accident on a carousel.

She had boarded the ride to assist a child who had rushed onto the ride and was attempting to climb onto a horse on the inside of the ride. As she concentrated on helping the child to climb onto the horse, our client took a step backwards and her leg went down into a large gap. All parties agreed that the gap was necessary to separate where the operator sat, from the revolving ride. However, at the time that our client suffered this personal injury, the gap was 67 cm deep, but this has now been reduced to 18 cm by the installation of an additional, separate platform for the ride operator.

On investigation, the ride had been subject to a risk assessment which had identified the potential hazard but it suggested that the risk of someone falling down the gap was only 10%. However, rectification work, which was subsequently carried out after the accident, cost only £500 and had it been carried out immediately after the risk assessment, would have prevented this accident.

The defendant argued that there had previously never been an accident involving the gap, even though the ride was over 100 years old. They claimed that the circumstances of the accident would have necessitated our client squeezing through a tight gap between metal struts which hung from the roof.

However, our client provided evidence that this had not been the case and the judge found for our client and that it was entirely predictable that people would be distracted when boarding the ride. He found that proper weight had not been given to the foreseeable risk, which would have prevented this accident to our client.

Although the judge found contributory negligence by our client to be 20%, our specialist personal injury lawyers were pleased to report that she was awarded personal injury compensation of over £11,000 for this avoidable breach of the Occupiers Liability Act 1984.

Compensation Claim

Here at Clear Answers, we have extensive experience in all types of personal injury claims, including those which result from a breach of the Occupiers' Liability Act. The person responsible for your accident will pay our legal fees, and our service will be cost-free for you. You will receive 100% of your compensation.

If you or a family member has been injured, in any sort of personal injury accident, please ring us on 0800 783 9019 and speak to one of our advisers. Alternatively, you may prefer to complete one of our on-line compensation claim forms and one of our representatives will contact you as quickly as possible.

Should you decide to instruct us to represent you in your claim, Clear Answers’ lawyers have teams of specialists waiting to help you. They will be happy to talk you through the claims process in plain English, will provide you with expert legal advice, and will answer any questions you may have regarding your claim.

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