Daughter cut leg on broken shelving

sandyrosie75

My daughter turned 10 on Friday, yesterday we took her to Toysrus to spend her birthday money
We walked in, turned the corner and she screamed out (totally unlike her as she is a quiet little thing) and said she had hurt her leg, we looked down and there were metal strips protruding from the bottom shelf. After inspecting the shelf, when she calmed down, it looked as though it had been hit in the middle as both sides were protruding, the positioning of the shelf would make it impossible to be hit with a trolley, bit odd
Anyhow, DD took a fair few layers of skin off and was quite upset.
Store manager was lovely and did all he could to make her comfortable
Another 2 members of staff helped too, all of them seemed really nervous, the bloke filling in the accident report was visibly shaking
The manager gave DD a £5 giftcard, and after about 20 minutes we were able to continue on with the birthday shopping.
Today we were at the MILs for an easter egg hunt and DD started complaining it was hurting, I looked at it and my sister in law was horrified, the gash is angry red and bruising is quite evident
She told me to get on to my solicitors etc
So, I am now stuck in a quandry. I thought the staff did all they could to help, immediately removing the broken shelving etc, but my sister in law reckons if they get away with it, there is no telling how many kids will get hurt from their carelessness.
Can I ask, what would others do in this situation

geri1965_2

Nobody else will get hurt as they have removed the broken shelving.

You have a good case for compensation, but you have to consider with a relatively minor injury if it is worth pursuing.

This is your decision, not your sister-in-law's.

DCFC79

Its a bruise and nothing more,

BlueAngelCV

I think that you do have a pretty good case for compensation but as geri1965 says it won't be much, probably a few hundred pounds for an injury like that. Only you can say whether the hassle is worth it.

If you want to prove a point but don't really want the hassle of pursuing a claim you could write to head office & see if they offer anything.

sandyrosie75

I think my sister in law was trying to make the point that staff need to be more vigilant of dangers instore
Maybe a letter to HO with a photo is all thats needed in this case.

LilMissEmmylou

Im for a letter to HO over the "claim culture" that we live in. At the end of the day accidents happen and this was no doubt just that. An unfortunate accident and the store did fix their best to fix the problem. What would YOUR parents have done if this was you as a child? I imagine they would accept it was an accident?

If it really is concern that it could happen again then write to HO, make sure they warn the staff not to let it happen again and if they send you anything further as compensation to soften the blow it's a bonus.

sandyrosie75

The claim culture is really not for me TBH, this is why I was asking I suppose, to get a balance on both sides of the arguement and I think letter to HO is definately a good compromise
As for my parents, they would probably sue all the way. lol.

arcon5

Is that all?

When I was a child i'd constantly have bruises much worse than that. Albeit usually from falling out of trees and like, but the point being it will heal pretty quickly so don't go over reacting.

Although a solicitor could probably get compensation, from the information posted, personally I don't think it's deserved due to the lack of severity and the fact the staff immediately removed the hazard once brought to their attention.

You say one of the staff was shaking.. where is this leading? That perhaps the member of staff knew of the hazard? If they knew and was negligent by not sorting it out, then I may take a different stance. Otherwise thats just my opinion anyway.

She'll be better in a few days... so you can eagerly await the next trip or fall .

Lip_Stick

Hi Sandy, nothing really to do with what's happened, but if you want to take a good close up of the wound to send to HO, your camera may have a macro setting. It's a setting that looks like a flower, that will give you a good shot. HTH

sandyrosie75

Sorry arcon5, I find part of your comment offensive.
Nervous staff, where is that leading? It was leading nowhere, just thought it strange, had they not dealt with anything like this before? meaning normally instore safety was good.
"Is that all' My daughter is 10, has a muscle wasting illness and from such a quiet little thing to be sobbing, sweating and also overwhelmed by the attention, yes, that is all!!!!!!
I was asking for opinions balancing out common sense and instore safety.
Would you like to tell me where I am over reacting? If I were over reacting would I be asking on here for balanced opinions?
Thank you Lip-Stick, so many settings on my camera from normal, auto, supermacro, macro
Heres one from playing with my settings

bris

Angry red, is that supposed to make a small bruise sound worse than it is. It will be gone in a few days, any compensation for this would be peanuts, if anything at all.