To claim compensation against a farm?

[Cat1984]

My 5 year old dd broke her arm badly at a school trip to the farm over a week ago and had to be operated on and now has wires holding her bones in place at the elbow, she has no movement in her index finger on her right arm and me and her school are trying to decide whether or not to let her go back to school. She's really traumatised by it all and keeps having flashbacks and getting upset, she even told me she never wants to go on another school trip. I've been told by a few people that I should sue the school or farm or claim compensation but I'm not sure about it because I'm so drained and exhausted my brain is barely working atm. WIBU to put in a claim?

personally, I wouldnt try to sue anyone unless you have very real reason to believe negligence played a part, eg failure to ensure safety, failure to supervise appropriately etc. I'd be livid if child taken to a dangerous location anyway and harmed due to a lack of care on the part of the school

My daughter is confused about it, she just gets upset when I talk about it

Surely a children's soft play area should be safe though? I don't know any soft play where a child could fall badly enough to break a bone and if it is dangerous then the children should be supervised on the dangerous parts?

Really?? Have you thought about this? You can break bones by falling over, jumping up and down - my son slipped off the bottom stair and broke his leg. Of course any child can fall at any soft play/school/street/your own living room and break a bone. It's called an accident. It happens.

I have no idea why reception aged children are " running around a lot " in the classroom.

Yep, sue everyone around! Accidents no longer happen. Sue the farm for having the premises, Sue the teachers for not having one per child in case of a fall. And don't forget sue the parents for allowing thier children to be in a position that an accident may happen. I think that sorts out the whole problem. Let's get some bubble rap, my kids come to no harm at all.

Cat,

I do agree that you need to concentrate on just getting her better right now and building up her confidence again so that she can get back to school before the end of term. Which is exactly what you have been doing of course.

You can tell her that it was horrible thing to happen, it was very painful for her, but she's getting better now and her arm will heal and she'll be back doing what she wants to do. And are there any friends that she would like to invite round for a non-rough playdate?

You sound a bit shaken by it all (not surprisingly) so try take a bit of time for yourself also. If you present the understanding, capable, getting on with it front to your DD then she'll take her lead from you.

How does nobody know what she fell off? Surely she does?

Its sad your daughter got hurt. However I hate this ever increasing compensation culture within the UK. If it's a fairly standard break then it won't affect your daughter for any longer than the time she has the cast on. So what is the 'compensation' you want for?

It's the grabbiest of the grabby. Grabbing money when you haven't lost any, just because you can.

I'm not going to sue anyone or go for compensation, I was asking for opinions as a lot of people around me are telling me this is what I should do, I am concentrating on getting my little girl better and the people that are coming back with sarky remarks are not helping. I came on here for advice while my daughter is asleep as my head is mashed and I can't think straight

I think it is early days and too soon to be thinking about claims. Just because you aren't in possession of all the facts. Once you are more clear about what happened you will be able to make a better decision.

Soft play is "safe" to a point. But there are so many things that could go wrong, and even in the most risk assessed environments, accidents can still happen.

I agree with PPs, a return to normal routine is the best way to help her get over the shock. Keeping her off just reinforces a feeling that school is bad and scary and that will just prolong her upset.

Personally, if this was one of my DCs and it turned out to be nothing more than an unfortunate accident, I wouldn't be claiming. But, there are a lot of people who see pound signs in these situations, hence all the people telling you to claim. Always looking for someone to blame. But sometimes it is just one of those things.

I think you need to make sure any future conversations with friends and family avoid dwelling on blaming someone and suing if they are happening in front of your DD. no doubt this will be adding to your DDs anxiety about the whole incident. Whatever you discuss, do it when she is not about.

Do they caring but matter of fact reassuring Mum act. Let her know everyone breaks bones now and again, it will get better and she is a very brave and grown-up girl. And so on.

Small children break a lot of bones. There were 3 in DS's YR class including DS, who broke his arm going down a slide holding a teddy. Accidents happen anywhere including playgrounds and soft play.

Unless you become convinced there was gross negligence, the ethical thing would be not to pursue it. And if you do, bear in mind that every time you have a child in your care at a playdate or whatever, how would you feel if they do something really normal like go down a slide or jump off something, break a bone, and their parent then sues you?

To be fair your last sentence in your op said "wibu to put in a claim" and the title of the the thread said "compensation against a farm" . So I do think that is your primary thought process.

It's so easy to fall and break bones for kids. My friends son went down 2 small steps and broke his arm.

Focus on your DD and ignore anyone else. Hope it heals quickly.

You need to get some advice. It's all well and good saying accidents will happen and don't sue but actually if your DD will suffer an impaired quality of life as a result of this or if you will be out of pocket with medical expenses, you are entitled to claim. This is why there is such a think as public liability insurance. If people feel that it's morally wrong to claim, good on them, but don't judge people who do. The compensation awards are only a tiny part for pain, suffering and loss of amenity and are to a large extent made up of damages for expenses, future care and loss of earnings.

People seem to be jumping to conclusions here.

The OP needs a lot more info before deciding how to proceed.

If we are compelled to send our DC off to school, we are entitled that a reasonable level of care will be delivered.

Perhaps the equipment was too advanced...I've been to plenty of farm shop play areas and often seen signs indicating areas for 8 and over, for example. Perhaps the equipment was broken...and the farm staff should have marked it as such.

If I was you OP, I'd want answers, urgently. And I'd probably want to see for myself where it happened.

I'd need to know if if was just want of those things are whether it was predictable.

I also think the searching around to blame someone is making you more stressed by the sound of things.

Yes it is right to take action if someone has clearly been negligent, but as others have said on here. All parts of life carry elements of risk, accidents do happen. Children have bumps and falls and sometimes break bones. The only way to avoid this totally is to never let them have times for active boisterous play.

People seem to say that now just as an off the cuff remark. They don't even think about what they are saying they just say it because Billy's mother's neighbour's daughter's granddaughter's mother once got compo for something completely different similar.

You need to wait until the head teacher's investigation before you can think about anything really.

Faulty equipment that the farm knew was faulty - consider suing
Faulty equipment the farm didn't know about - don't sue (imo)
Playing in a play area not appropriate - Create merry hell with school
Unsupervised in an area they shouldn't have been in - Create merry hell with school

Fell off an age appropriate piece of play equipment because she wasn't holding on properly and was unlucky enough to land in a way that caused an injury - thank the people that helped her and focus on getting her better.

The only thing that jumps out at me from what you've said is that no-one seen it. So just find out how many helpers were on the trip, reassure yourself that they were adequately supervised (which isn't the same as eyes on every single child at all times - I can't watch all of my own kids every second if they scatter never mind a bigger group!) with a good ratio and then just put it down to experience.

I suspect nobody is to blame. Soft play is fairly safe but as many pp have said, ridiculous accidents happen all the time. Broken bones happen in the most mundane incidents.
Having said that I understand the freak out that goes with your dc being hurt in a very fundamental way. The best route is probably to keep the school onside by being pragmatic (accidents happen, she could have tripped up getting into the coach and done the same damage) and work on a return to school programme for her. They can't mark it as unauthorized absence. She could go in for lessons but pick a few friends for quiet playtime activities etc.

I dont understand why it has taken a week to find out what happened? There were presumably plenty of witnesses and your child must have told you what happened?

I would sue the school only if they failed to supervise and/or risk assessment. My friend was hit by a car whilst riding his bike (110% drivers fault), he had to wait years till they settled because the amount of damage it had caused to see if there would be any long term effects. You have a while to make your mind up so I'd put every effort into making your DD free safe and secure at school and have you thought about settling her in slowly by letting her do have days for a few days?

Hope she gets better soon must of been frightful for her

You need the facts first.

Has the accident been reported to the relevant organisation. I think it might be the Health and Safety Executive but I'm not sure.

I wou investigate whether the HSE would be interested in prices using either the farm it the school for reaching health and safety legislation rather than compensation.

It's interesting that your friends are more interested in you pursuing compensation rather than being concerned about the possibility of another child being injured.

She could just as easily fall at soft play on your time and break her arm. Unless the school or farm were actually negligent, which based on your account they weren't, then attempting to sue seems pointless.

Do you actually shadow your own child at soft play over every piece of equipment and at every set of steps/crawl gaps etc?