Am I over reacting?

ChelseaGirl

I saw a person's carrier bag break in a well known supermarket this afternoon, and a jar of curry sauce fell out and smashed on the floor.

A member of staff covered the smashed jar and split sauce with an upturned basket.

Meanwhile my mum had finished paying for her shopping at another till and hadn't seen the incident. She was looking for me as she went to leave the store and didn't seen the upturned basket, smashed jar, and spilt sauce on the floor.

She slipped in the sauce and landed heavily on her knee. The store called an ambulance because my mum's knee swelled up. They took note of what had happened - but didn't seem too interested.

The paramedic said that she thought the fluid sac around my mum's knee had popped and said that she should go to the minor injuries unit at the hospital.

My mum spent all the rest of the afternoon at the hospital and had an examination and an xray.

It turns out that her knee is badly bruised. I had to take her by wheelchair to the hospital car park because she wasn't allowed to walk. She mustn't walk for the next two days and has to take painkillers. The hospital have given her a walking stick to help her get around when she has to.

I am absolutely furious with this supermarket. There was no warning sign near the spillage and no member of staff warned anyone about it. My mum's sandals, bag and skirt are stained with curry sauce. (Not sure whether the stains will come out).

I'm seriously tempted to make a formal complaint about this, but do you think I'm over reacting?

Thanks in advance for your comments (Didn't know where else to ask this question, so I apologise if it's not relevant to this forum). x

SugarSpun

I would have thought the upturned basket constituted a warning sign in itself, and this would be an accident where the shop isn't at fault.

I hope your mother's knee is better soon.

ChelseaGirl

Shouldn't they have used a proper yellow hazard sign though? Or at least have had a member of staff standing by the spillage until the cleaner was able to take care of it.

bestpud

They tell staff to do that while they go and get someone to clear it up.

Is there anything you can see that they could have done better? Or anything they could have done but they didn't?

Because you'd have to argue they didn't take all reasonable precautions to prevent an incident, I think.

anguk

It just seems to me like it was an unfortunate accident. You saw the jar smash and a member of staff cover it with a basket, it would take at least a few minutes for them to call for someone to clean it up. Granted a member of staff could have stayed next to the mess warning everyone who passed to be careful but in the same sense your mother wasn't watching where she was going (sorry if that sounds harsh, I don't mean to be). If however the jar had smashed earlier and had been left then I would think you had grounds to complain.

I would let the store know what the hospital has said to your mother and what her injuries are so they can add that to the accident form that should have been filled out.

I hope your mum gets better soon.

skintchick

I think you're overreacting. Your mum should have looked where she was going, you shoudl have wanred her, and accidents do happen you know.

Get over it and help your mum recover.

Stryder

Supermarket is responsible for the safety of the floor - so time for injurylawyers4you

SugarSpun

It sounds like all of this happened in a short space of time - it's possible that the staff member who upturned the basket had gone for the warning sign or had sent someone else for it when the accident happened. I don't see that there's much to be done about it, but if you think the formal complaint is appropriate then send one - it only costs the price of a stamp and you're clearly upset.

ChelseaGirl

I wasn't with my mum at the time. I saw the jar smash, but she didn't as we were in separate areas of the store at the time.
I didn't tell my mum about the jar because I simply wasn't with her.

The time frame between the jar being smashed and my mum slipping was around five minutes.

I would have thought that a recognised warning sign would have been appropriate in the circumstances. No hazard sign was put in place at any time.

ilnf

I agree, a temporary 'fix' was the basket - other option to leave it unattended while searching out a yellow sign - most likely other side of store in cleaner's cupboard. Baskets are about a foot high - I'd consider them rather visable.

epsilondraconis

Did the supermarket offer your mother some curry sauce in compensation?

Hope she gets better soon.

Sometimes accidents just happen.