Fall in supermarket car park pothole

[Beachy77]

Hi, just looking for advice if any personal injury lawyers reading here.

two weeks ago I was walking back to my car at night and went over on my ankle due to a pothole in a space I was walking across. I managed not to hit the ground as I leaned on a nearby car.

Due to being in a bit of shock and being so sore I jumped in car and went home. I tried to report it via phone but there is no direct number for the store so ended up having to report it via their website a few days later.

ive been plodding on as I’m a self employed counsellor and have to drive to work but been in a lot of pain. Went to minor injuries last night as it’s not getting any better and it’s broken. A small break but as it’s my ankle I am not allowed to drive so will be out a lot of money.

Sainsbury’s offered me a £75 voucher to close the matter. They are refusing to look into it any further as I didn’t report it and their cctv doesn’t cover that part of the car park. I have photos of the pothole and have been taking photos of the injury every few days.

is this something I could claim for via one of the no win no fee companies for losing income and potentially hiring an automatic car (it’s my left foot) once I’m ok to walk on it again.

thanks.

Don’t know but in your circumstances, I’d certainly look into it. Lots of no-win no fee companies will give you a free appointment to discuss.

Hope you recover quickly.

Thanks @MrsSkylerWhite I’ve called a no win no fee and their solicitors are going to look into it. So angry at Sainsbury’s response so it fired me up.

Love your username!

I think 'no win, no fee' relates to your own costs. If you lose then will you be liable for Sainsbury's costs?

Yes but the solicitor weighs the likelihood of winning up before accepting the case. They don't just take on loser cases recklessly.

You could plaster the photos over their social media, describe what happened and the resultant loss of income as you can’t drive due to the break. They won’t like it being over their socials and being known not to make good. Might offer you more.

Refusing to look into it any further because you didn't report it until a few days after? That is crazy. Good luck to them with that argument 😂
Things your solicitor will ask them to consider is the lighting in the area, the size and depth of the pothole, their maintenance of the car park. It's unlikely to be a quick process but there's definitely grounds to make a claim.

Not sure about car parks, but with roads the council are only liable if it's already been reported. If a pothole had literally just developed eg heavy rain in last couple of hours, the court could rule that they reasonably couldn't have known it was there. Also you need to define what your material losses are. What is the alternative to driving?

Consider carefully as £75 may be all that's reasonable

You won't be able to drive an automatic either, my friend broke a bone in her left foot and the doc said she wouldn't be insured to drive her automatic.
Have you offered clients telephone or online sessions for a week or 2 and then get a lift or taxi to work as I believe the costs need to be reasonable I wouldnt think you could just claim 6 weeks salary with out attempting to find alternatives.

Hey @Beachy77 ~ I'm going to DM you!

Hi folks, thanks for the replies.

to answer some questions, I can only offer online to certain clients as I work though organisations 3 days a week and they wouldn’t be happy with this. Unfortunately both of those are in towns 20miles drive away and would each mean two trains and a bus with walking in between. All perfectly fine when I can walk. Hence the thinking about an automatic as this would allow me to continue working. Taxis for the two days I work in my home city are £40 per day.

the other element to this is that I do not want to let clients down. I work in trauma survivor services and absolutely do not want to be off work any more than this week. I could potentially lose business going forward, not all clients would wait for a longer length of time. It would be much easier if I was working as an employee 😬

I will check with my gp about the automatic tomorrow. Hopefully they will have the report from hospital by then.

I cannot afford to not work as I live alone and have a mortgage so I would much rather be at work.

thanks everyone for advice and options.

Just as an FYI, you are legally allowed to drive in an automatic so long as your injured limb does not interfere with your ability to use the pedals or sit in the drivers seat. So if someone is in a large boot and their uninsured foot would be pushed to the side by it or they are in a splint or plaster extending above the knee, they aren’t insured but otherwise hit is fine to drive. There are different rules for arm injuries obviously.

lots of doctors aren’t happy to give advice about this so call back on the east option (for us) of “you’re not safe to drive”

if the cctv doesn't cover the area op the problem will be proving you were injured in their car park. Yes you can prove you were in the shop( presuming you used the shop and weren't just using the car park), but you can't prove that's where the accident happened. Had you reported it at the time they'd be a record of you on that day reporting the accident on that land. I expect that you'll get nowhere with this one unfortunately.

Not necessarily. My brother had a knee replacement on his left leg and the doctor told him this as well about driving his automatic car.

However, he decided to check with his insurance company.

Insurance company were fine as it was an automatic car and obviously no need to use the left foot for any gear changes.

Op might be worth having a word with your insurance company

Thanks. I do understand this and honestly would have reported it if I could have put weight on it. It feels unfair that I might be unable to claim for lost earnings and additional costs to go to work when it’s more bearable to walk on because I was in too much pain to walk at the time. It was so quiet at that time of night, there was no one around.

With regards to driving, thanks for the advice folks. I spoke to my insurers and they squarely put the decision on the doctors. I saw a nurse at the hospital who said I can only drive if I can do an emergency stop but also that if I cause an accident by not being able to stop then I will be liable. She didn’t recommend it. I think I will be ok driving an automatic but will double check with hospital or go. It’s just money I cannot afford alongside paying for my own car which I’ve just filled up with petrol.

No win no fee solicitors will also commonly offer ATE insurance to cover the potential liability for the other side’s costs if you are unsuccessful. If you win, Sainsbury’s pays the premium and a success fee, if you lose no premium is paid.

Even without CCTV or a contemporaneous report, if you have date stamped photos of the pothole and the injury and location data on your phone which shows you were at the location on the date, that’s likely to be enough. I doubt Sainsbury’s will contest on that basis.

you do have a duty to minimise your losses so continuing to work if you can will be required and if occasional taxis will be cheaper than hiring an automatic for 6 weeks, then you will need to do that.

Thank your. I really hope that is the case. It’s been such a quiet year for work and it’s just got busy again so the worst time for this to happen.

im comparing the prices and for three of the days where im in other towns id be 70-100 per day with taxis. So a hire car would be cheaper it seems.

i have received the solicitors paperwork and I was worried about talk of insurance premiums and whether I have to pay those if the claim isn’t successful. I will email them to ask . I’ve never had anything like this before.

thanks again

Also I’m hoping not to need a hire car for 6 weeks. In my head I had 2 weeks, whether or not that’s realistic 🤷🏻‍♀️

to reply to some other comments. The car park was reasonably well lit however the pot hole was fairly small but deep and full of water and the surrounding ground was wet so that was darker too making it harder to see. I was shopping and used my nectar card. I also did take photos just after it, more because I was confused and in shock as to what had just happened as I wobbled all over the place a bit. I have photos of ankle from
next day and a week later when bruising emerged as swelling went down.

No she won't be - the usual rule is that personal injury claimants have costs protection so even if they fail to prove their claim they don't pay the other side's costs. Exceptions are if the Defendant makes an offer the Claimant fails to beat, or if the court finds the Claimant has been fundamentally dishonest (e.g. by dishonestly exaggerating the claim)

Yes you definitely could make a claim and it would be a no win no fee arrangement. Go for it

A relative fell in sainsbury 5 years ago. The claim is still going through they had a broken wrist and 6 stitches in the head.
Sainsbury drag their heels

Have you got legal cover on your home insurance? I used mine in similar circumstances, also in Sainsburys.
They offered me £100. Eventually I was awarded £4k. No costs.
Broken ribs, broken collar bone, massive bruising on shoulder and hip, unable to drive or work for 6 weeks. Unable to cook, shop, wash etc.
Not to mention the pain and not being able to sleep.
Some thoroughly nasty posters on MN told me I was being unreasonable and greedy for claiming. I don't agree.

Be careful with no win no fee companies. They are known for taking a big chunk of the pay out when you win.

I think they get you to take out an insurance policy in case you lose.

But they don’t keep that a secret. It’s all very clear before you choose them, so it’s up to you if you want to. They don’t sneak in at the end and grab half the money unexpectedly.