To sue ASDA?!

[KnightlyMyMan]

Ok so maybe not actually sue- but to be very annoyed and shaken up?

This afternoon I was shopping in a (reasonably small) ASDA supermarket picking up items for my gran.

I turned an empty aisle and noticed a ‘cleaning in progress’ sign on one side. No visible spillage and the sign was only on one side so I walked around it (gave a wide berth), Boom, I was on the floor having landed heavily on my right knee.

My fiancé, who was with me, picked me back up and another middle aged chap came running up to help. He had just fallen himself, in the exact same spot as me! The floor was coated in a slippery oil based substance - it had stained his jeans.

A minute later an employee came running up apologising profusely - the chap told her off as she had ‘wiped’ the floor after he fell but obviously done a terrible job. As I hobbled away I saw her retrieve a bucket and mop.

I went to the customer service desk and manager was called- he was nice and apologised (gave me a nominal gift card) but I wasn’t in pain, just shaken and annoyed as had that been my very elderly grandmother or heavily pregnant cousin (who it would have been had I not volunteered) it would have been very dangerous!

Since I got home my knee has seized and is now bruised and swollen in a lump. I’m 25- fit and healthy - never had anything like this happen before. But I’m really annoyed that It did- I won’t be able to cycle to my office tomorrow 😒 and expect I’ll be sore for a while. I’ve never considered suing anyone for anything but think this could easily have been avoided!

You fell over because you weren’t paying due care and attention. Your own fault

You can make a complaint, it's a training issue and they should be aware of it. Or you can contact a nowin nofee lawyer to claim, again it will raise awareness for them to be more careful. Give the money to charity if you don't need it

It’s unfortunate that you fell but accidents do happen and it sounds like ASDA were doing their bit by putting the sign up. They’ve already dealt with it and I can’t see how suing would improve the situation for anyone.

There was a sign out. She hasnt got a bruised leg to stand on.

Not a training issue at all. They followed training by putting the correct sign out in the correct place. There is something called personal responsibility.

Shes also already received an apology and compensation and made a manager aware.

Welcome to 2018. Had an accident? Looking to point blame and maybe get a few quid despite an apology and gift card from speaking to the Manager? Then sue.

Seriously thank fuck we got through WW2 with some backbone. Because these days we appear to be just little snowfkes or busily filming someone geing abused or assaulted.

How can they train an employee to spot a spillage that isn't visible?

OP, if you genuinely don’t want money, then don’t sue. If it’s about the principle of the thing, that’s not the purpose of legal proceedings and won’t do anything to get your point across to a huge company like Asda, it’ll be dealt with by their claims department/insurer/lawyers as one of thousands of claims. Unless something more develops in addition to your bruise, it’s worth a couple of hundred pounds. As other PPs have said, the “it could have been x or y vulnerable person” argument is pointless, because it wasn’t. The fact that there was a cleaning sign out is very much in favour of Asda’s defence, and it would be a difficult claim for you to succeed in.

There was a wet sign out and you still want to sue them? Good luck.

Complain by all means. But seriously, nurse your bruise and pay more attention next time when a signs out.

Ywbu to sue yes. Unless there were more serious consequences meaning you were left with a permanent injury or severely out of pocket, what’s the point anyway? You’d probably get a relatively low ‘shut up and go away’ payment since it’s entirely reasonable that an employee may miss something (human error) or have had to leave the sign to obtain cleaning materials.

If you're actually civically minded you could write with suggestions to prevent a similar accident if you have any. Oil is a nightmare to clean up, maybe some sort of powder sprinkled to show where needs to be cleaned and so the public can see where to avoid? Still not fool proof since any spillage would still have to be reported and equipment retrieved.

Let me get this straight - you're annoyed because you ignored a warning sign about a wet floor, slipped on said floor and were given a gift card for the trouble?

Yes YABU

Oh give over, you have a bruise FFS 🙄

Drama queen.

There was a sign there warning you of a slippery floor/cleaning in progress and you went ahead and walked on it, and fell. And now are blaming them.
How about take some responsibility for yourself and your own actions? You saw the sign and chose to walk there anyway.
Cleaning materials don't just appear out of thin air, someone has to go and them, and that takes time, that's why you leave the sign there - to warn people!

I had this the other day, area much larger than a sign needed mopping up, dropped and smashed glass. Put a sign at each side to warn people while I went off to get what I needed. Someone moved the fucking sign to push a buggy through then moaned about the glass and wet floor. It's why the signs there. 🙄

What does 'in progress' mean op ?

To sue, they would have to be liable. They did know there was a spillage. They didn't adequately signpost the danger. I think a judge would say they were liable. For an idea of damages you'd have to have an idea of the longevity of your injury: only you can say if it's damaged seriously or not. If there is no formal record of the injury (ie your doctor didn't record it) they can only go on photos and a bruise can be viewed as trivial. Not sure if it would be worth much. Once I stood on one of those security tags that go through clothes, essentially a large pin. It went through the sole of my shoe, and deep into my heel. No lasting damage so didn't bother with legal but their recklessness was SO annoying to me and it really hurt. I get it.

Of course you'd be unreasonable to even consider suing.

I’m surprised how many people think that having a ‘cleaning in process’ sign at one side of an aisle is enough to stop anyone walking down the entire aisle

What exactly do you think floors are cleaned with, fairy dust? If a non-carpeted floor has a cleaning sign then there is water afoot. Literally.

Oh op.... come on!!!

The sign may well have been nearer the spill.... in my experience shoppers move things. It's possible another shopper moved it further out or hit it with their trolley!!

How do you know that a customer hadn’t pushed the sign to one side to get thier trolley though?

I fell at a till in Sainsbury's one Sunday afternoon, no sign and liquid and broken glass on the floor. Went to customer services and a first aider? brought tissues to wipe the blood off my arm and filled in an accident form with my name and mobile number. Felt ok at the time but got a call from a member of staff at 9.30 the following morning asking how I was, when I said I felt a bit stiff from putting my arms out as I fell to the floor she asked if I'd been to the doctor, unbelievable. I didn't pursue it further, just thought their training was crap.

Ooooh, sore boo-boo

Now what the fuck else are you rabbiting about ?

Chortling at the idea of miss Grabby Guts donating her win to charity.
That would so happen.

Absolutely infuriates me when people whine and say “well if it had been my Granny/pregnant cousin/cat it would have been much much worse”

It wasn’t much worse because it didn’t happen to any of those people, it happened to you.

And it’s a little bruise. Get over yourself.

YABU.