Sample letter personal injury out of pocket expenses

flightinfo

I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to post this but couldn't find a relevant thread.

To cut a long story short, I slipped on a large wet patch (no signage indicating it was wet) whilst in a supermarket. I filled in accident form, spent over 5 hours in a walk-in centre the next day, plus visits to doctor, etc.

I'm not looking to claim compensation but do want to recover all my extra expenses - e.g. bus fares, prescription charges, etc.

I have searched on internet but can't find any sample letters to send to a company - only lots of solicitors touting for business. I can, of course, compose my own letter but thought if I could find a basic draft which could be adapted to individual circumstances, I might stand a better chance of getting all my money back.

Does anyone know of any relevant sites? Thanks for your help.

pinkshoes

Dear Sir or Madam,

On <insert date> I was in your <name of branch> store, and slipped on a wet patch, injuring myself. There were no warnings of any liquid on the floor.

As a result, I had to spend 5 hours waiting for medical treatment, then pay for a prescription costing <£insert cost> and also pay for my return bus fair costing <£insert amount> to get to the medical centre.

My injuries are not serious, but I would appreciate it if you would pay my costs of <£insert total> in getting my injuries treated.

Kind Regards,

flight info

Send it recorded delivery if you don't trust the postal service, and just keep it polite.

maggie111

I would definitely include any copies receipts or proof of your visit to the walk in clinic etc.

I'm pretty sure Tesco will pay out sharpish if the sum isn't too much. You might need to sign a waiver or something first?

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

Anything you get will be goodwill unless you can prove neglience on tesco's behalf.

isplumm

LinasPilibaitisisbatman wrote: »

Anything you get will be goodwill unless you can prove neglience on tesco's behalf.

Having a large wet patch on the floor would be enough prove ??

Tesco have a duty of care to their customers & have failed in this case ... so the OP should be entitled to some form of compo ...

Mark

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

No it wouldnt

You would need to prove that it was due to something like poor maintainance or laziness.

If someone had literally just caused the wet patch and tesco were not aware of it then there is no neglience.

There is only an entitlement to compo when a duty of care has been breached. by your reckoning i best fill a bottle of water up and hit tesco and boost my bank balance.

isplumm

LinasPilibaitisisbatman wrote: »

No it wouldnt

You would need to prove that it was due to something like poor maintainance or laziness.

If someone had literally just caused the wet patch and tesco were not aware of it then there is no neglience.

There is only an entitlement to compo when a duty of care has been breached. by your reckoning i best fill a bottle of water up and hit tesco and boost my bank balance.

Well I suspect you & I will disagree on this ... my attitude is the wet patch was in Tesco's store, the person slipped on it, it should not be difficult to prove that it was Tesco's fault .... compo is entitled ... duty of care has been broken .... as to filling up a bottle of water ... well that's nuts ... I mean Tesco would have it on CCTV ....

Mark

flightinfo

Thanks for all your replies.

Tesco were aware of the wet patch. Someone had dropped a bottle and they had cleaned it up but left a very large wet patch with no warning. An assistant did say that they'd had something there but it had been moved. The first aider (not that she did anything other than have a cursory look at my leg to make sure there was no glass, asked if I wanted a seat whilst I filled out the accident form - brought out a wheelchair which I refused) wanted to know exactly what time the accident happened so they could check the cctv. Surprisingly, I hadn't thought to look at my watch as I fell!! There were witnesses but unfortunately I didn't get any names - I heard one lady asking why nobody was coming to help (the accident happened right near the tills) and a customer was one of the people who helped me up - I didn't know this as he was behind me.

Interestingly, a couple of minutes before I fell I walked past a customer pointing over to something in the direction I was walking and the assistant replied that they were aware of it. Obviously I don't know if it was the wet patch but my guess is it was and that someone else had nearly slipped or even slipped but not hurt themselves.

I will send receipts but at this stage really just want to write a preliminary letter telling them that I will be doing this as I want to wait until I have all the receipts. I have been to the doctor today and he has told me it could take upto 12 weeks until I am fully recovered.

As I said in my original post, I am not after getting lots of compensation but do want all my costs repaid (this includes extras I have had to pay - such as getting a take away after 5 hours in walk in clinic as I could not have gone home and cooked a meal - and it was past my youngest's bedtime let alone supper time.)

Once again, thanks for your replies. (Interestingly, I didn't mention Tesco's in my original post but people just assumed it was!)

scullster

isplumm wrote: »

Well I suspect you & I will disagree on this ... my attitude is the wet patch was in Tesco's store, the person slipped on it, it should not be difficult to prove that it was Tesco's fault .... compo is entitled ... duty of care has been broken .... as to filling up a bottle of water ... well that's nuts ... I mean Tesco would have it on CCTV ....

Mark

The OP has beaten me to it, and in this case, they are negligent

BUT, for all we may have known, the wet patch may have just happened and the store had not had a reasonable amount of time to detect the hazard, nevermind mitigate against it or remove it.

Please don't assume that because an accident happens on a company's premises, they are immediately at fault. The store's management and staff cannot be everywhere all of the time, they would be negligent if they failed to respond to it once notified, or if the hazard wasn't detected for a substantial period of time.

Brooker_Dave

pinkshoes wrote: »

Dear Sir or Madam

Dear Sir or Madam

I didn't look where I was going and slipped.

Please send me lots of money.

Yours

Mr Bump

flightinfo

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Dear Sir or Madam

I didn't look where I was going and slipped.

Please send me lots of money.

Yours

Mr Bump

I think this was quite unnecessary. If you read my posts, you would have seen that I was not asking for 'lots of money'. I fail to see why I should have to pay prescription costs, etc. I was pushing a full trolley and looking ahead, not down at the floor. Would you think it was better that I looked down at the floor rather than looking where I was going and bumped into other people?