Accident in shop

LilElvis

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

I'd know that if the floor was slippery as you stated I would hold my childs hand to help prevent them from slipping over.

Or the other blindingly obvious option - put the child in the trolley seat and strap it in!

agrinnall

EastEmerald wrote: »

I don't want money! I'm worried about court etc

These statements are contradictory - if you don't want money then you won't be taking it to court and you have nothing to worry about.

Ms_Chocaholic

I wonder if the floor was slippy why your daughter didn't fall over the pile of people who had already fell over in that area.

DoaM

We get so many COMPO COMPO threads here that people are automatically sceptical when a thread like this appears, hence the tone of some of the replies you've received.

WHY was the floor slippy? Were there any warning signs in evidence? It's possible that the solicitors are investigating this because:

a) A child was involved
b) The H&S Executive may have become involved, so the company needs to make sure everything is procedurally in order

As above, contact the solicitors (by email if necessary) and tell them that you appreciate that accidents do happen, and that you're not looking to pursue this as a compensation claim. Chances are you'll get a "goodwill gesture" anyway.

Hopefully your child is over it and has forgotten about it ... the quicker you can stop dwelling on it the quicker your child will do so too.

rach_k

You could ask them what they'd like to offer. They clearly feel that you are due something and they have seen the footage, we haven't.

On a side note, if having your newborn in a sling means you can't grab your toddler easily or quickly, try visiting a local sling library or consultant if you can. You should be able to move easily with a baby in a carrier, so it may be that your positioning isn't quite right, or something else simple to fix. That should especially be the case with a newborn as they are small and won't be moving around much or sticking legs out everywhere!

pinkshoes

EastEmerald wrote: »

If she had landed on the floor it would have been a lot less painful than a metal trolley.

And if she had headbutted the shelving it could have been even worse...

Kids trip over and land on things.

Maybe ask for an Apology if you feel that necessary, but personally I would do nothing. It wasn't the trolley that tripped her up so not the supermarket's fault.

DoaM

pinkshoes wrote: »

so not the supermarket's fault.

Not necessarily (in the eyes of the law) ... see my previous post.

[Deleted User]

rach_k wrote: »

They clearly feel that you are due something

No, they are just pre-empting potential litigation by the OP herself.
Solicitors acting on behalf of retail outlets don't unilaterally decide the customer "must be due something".

They are employed to limit legal claims against their clients, not pay them out!

Only a court can/will decide if the OP is "due something".

Gavin83

EastEmerald wrote: »

Fair enough.

I won't bother reading any more as I've been wrongly judged and obviously haven't been clear enough with my question. I don't want money! I'm worried about court etc, I don't know what common procedure is.

Never mind, I'll just wait. Have a nice day all.

But you've had several answers already and avoided answering a number of perfectly reasonable questions put to you. As others have said the answer is to tell this solicitor (it won't be their solicitor) that you aren't interested in pursuing a claim and move on. Maybe ask the supermarket if they're prepared to give you a voucher to buy some chocolate for your child, they'll likely send you a £20 voucher or something.

You won't get a proper apology.

unholyangel

OP slip, trip and fall cases are very rarely the sole fault of the premises, its usually contributory negligence at best - that both parties were negligent - or the sole fault of the person who fell. The steps you would need to prove would be:

1) that they owed your daughter a duty of care
2) that they were negligent in that duty (ie that no reasonable person would have done the same)
3) that their breach of duty (of care) caused the damage
4) that the damage is not too remote

1 goes without saying as you owe a duty of care to anyone who is in proximity to you by distance or legal relations.
2 is debatable and depends on exact circumstances. As someone said above, something being spilled wouldn't automatically make them negligent, only if the spillage remained for some time. This is why you might have seen places with a "check sheet" - where someone checks it every so often and signs it to say its been checked. It helps businesses limit their liability if they show they have a procedure in place for dealing with potential hazards.
3 is where most slip, trip & fall cases become contributory negligence. While the shop may be negligent in (for example sake only) not mopping up a spill, the customer is usually also to blame for not looking where they are going and/or not wearing suitable footwear.
4 is rather self explanatory - the damages must be foreseeable. It must be obvious that such damage could occur from such a thing.


But i would point out that a court cannot make them apologise, they can only award damages. So if your purpose isn't to get money then court action would be pointless. Likewise, unless you can get a free initial consultation to see where you stand, the cost of legal advice would quickly outweigh any potential award and you would not be able to recover those costs even if you win.


One other thing to note from the parent side of things is that when young kids fall, there is a split second they look to their parent before they burst into tears......that's because they're looking to you for a cue. If they see you look shocked and rush over to make sure they're okay, they're more likely to burst into tears and scream the place down.

I know you've said you're after an apology but, I'm not sure of the value of it in this case - it would be to appease you and you were not the one who suffered an injury. Your child was, and if your child is a toddler then they are not going to appreciate or understand the apology.

FWIW, I had my fair share of injuries as a kid and only the severe ones (ie broke my ankle at school and had to walk around all day on it as the nurse thought I was faking it) stayed with me. Your child will unlikely remember this in a few years time.