Injured in Tesco's - Advice Please

tony863

Hi,

I really need all of your advice because I am so upset about an incident today and don't really know what to do. Basically, I went to my nan's flat today to take her for a day out which we only really do once a month. Everything started well and we went to lunch.

She mentioned that she fancied a trip to Tesco because she is after a new TV for her 90th birthday (which is next week). I obviously agreed to take her to the store and off we went. When we arrived, my wife went off to get her a wheel chair because she can't walk far. She returned with one that had broken fold down pedals but said not to worry because they had only given her that one temporarily whilst they sorted her out with an electric one.

Nan seemed happy, so we put her in the chair and told her that she had to hover her feet in the air until we got to the electric chair. Tesco wouldn't allow us to take the electric one out to the car in case we nicked it! Anyway, Nan was happy and we wheeled her into the store to her awaiting chair. Once there, she stood up to make the move and shuffled forward. As she did, she let out a painful wince and said that she had just caught her ankle. I looked at my wife and she looked horrified as we realised that my Nan had literally sliced her ankle open on the sharp plastic that was left over from where the pedals had been snapped off.

Cue panic from every angle and first aid kits coming from every direction. An ambulance was called and I treated the area until they arrived. As you can imagine, it was quite a difficult situation, trying to keep everyone from becoming emotional. My wife became faint and nearly passed out. My 5 year old boy looked on in horror as we ripped the bandages from the box!! For her troubles, she ended up with a laceration measuring approx 3 inches across and requiring 5 stitches and lots or steri strips.

Obviously Tesco's were apologetic and promised to initiate an investigation, but this is obviously a massive breach of health and safety regulations is it not?
They are duty bound to look after customer's safety in their stores and providing an extremely elderly lady with a wheel chair with broken pedals that are really sharp is surely their fault?

This only happened a few hours ago so I am still trying to get my head around it. The doctor said that he is concerned that ulcers may form in the wound and the last time she cut her foot, it took 6 weeks to heal!! She is now really depressed that she can't go anywhere or do anything until she sees the doc again next week.

We never got photos of the wheel chair, but they did fill in the accident form at the time and have wrote the following:

"The lady was getting out of the customer wheel chair to get into a motorised scooter when she cut her right ankle (deep long cut around ankle) - Foot rests on wheel chair broken, sharp plastic edges"

We didn't take any photos of the wound either because it was stressful enough. I fear that if I were to go back to her and ask to take some, she would get really upset about it.

Basically, I need some advice. What shall I do? Shall I just speak to their head office and try and resolve it through them, or shall I get onto National Accident Helpline and see what they say i.e. injury claim etc.. please bear in mind that she is 90 so going to court is not an option for her. I would quite happily go on her behalf, but I don't think she would cope with the stress.

Any advice is greatly appreciated

Tony

montyrebel

get a lawyer, you wil get compensation but it may take about 12-18 months, depending on the store

tony863

I don't agree at all. Tesco are in the wrong for allowing a faulty item to be available to be used. If you can't work out the potential knock on effects for a 90 year old woman then you are blind.


I was searching through the net and found the following site who are affiliated to the National Accident Helpline

http://www.supermarketaccidents.co.uk/supermarket-accident-compensation-claim/tesco-supermarket-accident-claim/

What do you reckon? My other obvious concerns are that she is 90 and might not last as long as the claim goes on! Also, would she have to go to Court?

System

this is a clear breach of H & S , any defective/damaged item should never be on the shop floor especially something the general public will use. The store will no doubt have an investigation but to be honest i would contact the head office first thing tomorrow, i wouldnt go down the national accident helpline route unless you think money will make the cut go away , i would contact the H & S executive and make a complaint they will send someone out to the store to check they are complyng with the regualtions in future.
what does the lady in question want to do about it because you can complain untill you are blue in the face but if she doesnt feel up to a fight then i doubt if you can do anything on her behalf.

tony863

SueSueSue - I've had a bad enough day as it is. Please just do me a favour and don't post anymore comments. To suggest I am doing this for my own benefit is an insult beyond belief. If I weren't the person I am, I would be inclined to post an equally insulting comment back to you.

With regards to what she wants, she wants the easy life. If I told her tomorrow that I had spoke to the head office, she would thank me and that would be that. I just feel upset that I had to watch her go through all of that and know that she won't be able to go out for god knows how long, and just accept a meaningless sorry on her behalf.

pinkshoes

Ultimately it was an accident.

Why don't you just wait to see how your nan heals first?

If you kick up too much of a fuss, what is likely to happen is that Tesco will withdraw the use of all wheelchairs, meaning that only those elderly that have their own chairs will be able to get round the store, so it's probably best not to make any hasty decisions.

You'd already known the chair was broken, so did you not investigate why? Surely it would have been easy to spot the broken bits, because she did have to sit holding her feet up!

MrsE_2

tony863 wrote: »

I don't agree at all. Tesco are in the wrong for allowing a faulty item to be available to be used. If you can't work out the potential knock on effects for a 90 year old woman then you are blind.


I was searching through the net and found the following site who are affiliated to the National Accident Helpline

http://www.supermarketaccidents.co.uk/supermarket-accident-compensation-claim/tesco-supermarket-accident-claim/

What do you reckon? My other obvious concerns are that she is 90 and might not last as long as the claim goes on! Also, would she have to go to Court?

I'm not usually in favour of compo chasing but in this case I say hit them for all you can & pray it teaches them a lesson about safety.

For a 90 year old this could be a big deal & am I right in saying old people heal very slowly?

tony863

pinkshoes wrote: »

You'd already known the chair was broken, so did you not investigate why? Surely it would have been easy to spot the broken bits, because she did have to sit holding her feet up!

Thats a good point. I think it was because they had given my wife the chair to transport her to the motorised chair. The thought of only being in the faulty chair for a few mins was probably the reason we ignored the missing pedals. With that in mind, it is our fault that we used a faulty chair, but we didn't expect it to have sharp plastic edges and I think that the store should have removed it from use.

tony863

MrsE wrote: »

For a 90 year old this could be a big deal & am I right in saying old people heal very slowly?

Yes, the doc said he is worried about ulcers from the slow healing process. She also had another foot injury last year which required 5 stitches. That took 6 weeks to heal whereas it would have taken no more than two for the average young person

MrsE_2

tony863 wrote: »

Yes, the doc said he is worried about ulcers from the slow healing process. She also had another foot injury last year which required 5 stitches. That took 6 weeks to heal whereas it would have taken no more than two for the average young person

Well I hope she gets better soon Tony.

Your post brought a big smile to my face when I first started reading, with her "new TV for her 90th":D

V.Lucky

If your Nan has home insurance, check if she has the legal advice line as they would probably take up the case for her, at no cost to her.