Tesco Car Park Accident & Hospital Visit

Thesunshinesonme

Hello everyone,

November 2020 I fell and injured my head and wrist when walking up to our local Tesco Express.  I was walking up the side of the shop when I saw three men talking on the pavement.  Bearing in mind social distancing, I stepped out into the car park. 

The floodlight to the far side of the car park area was not working, so I caught a speed hump with my foot and tripped. The Manager was called and he took me into the store to stop the bleeding as blood was running into my right eye. He told me I could "take this further" several times during this process, and asked me to call him to let him know I was OK when I got home.  He duly made out an accident report and has said it was not the shop's responsibility. 

I had already assumed this was the responsibility of the Council.  I took no further action.

However my wrist was painful and after two weeks I had it x-rayed, and it proved to be fractured.

I have since heard various 'no win, no fee' solicitors adverts suggesting that I could still make a claim if injured less than two years ago.  I am no longer so sure this is the Council's responsibility, indeed my employers told me it would be the responsibility of the shop.

Although the car park facilities are shared between the Express and five other shops, the fall was right outside of Tesco's premises, and the floodlight would, had it been working, have illuminated where I fell.

I have no idea who to go to to make a claim, and wondered if there is anyone on MSE who could give me some advice.

Thanks kindly, Sandra

marcia_

Thesunshinesonme said:

Hello everyone,

November 2020 I fell and injured my head and wrist when walking up to our local Tesco Express.  I was walking up the side of the shop when I saw three men talking on the pavement.  Bearing in mind social distancing, I stepped out into the car park. 

The floodlight to the far side of the car park area was not working, so I caught a speed hump with my foot and tripped. The Manager was called and he took me into the store to stop the bleeding as blood was running into my right eye. He told me I could "take this further" several times during this process, and asked me to call him to let him know I was OK when I got home.  He duly made out an accident report and has said it was not the shop's responsibility. 

I had already assumed this was the responsibility of the Council.  I took no further action.

However my wrist was painful and after two weeks I had it x-rayed, and it proved to be fractured.

I have since heard various 'no win, no fee' solicitors adverts suggesting that I could still make a claim if injured less than two years ago.  I am no longer so sure this is the Council's responsibility, indeed my employers told me it would be the responsibility of the shop.

Although the car park facilities are shared between the Express and five other shops, the fall was right outside of Tesco's premises, and the floodlight would, had it been working, have illuminated where I fell.

I have no idea who to go to to make a claim, and wondered if there is anyone on MSE who could give me some advice.

Thanks kindly, Sandra

 How is is this anyone else's fault? You walked in the road! 

user1977

Thesunshinesonme said:

the car park facilities are shared between the Express and five other shops, the fall was right outside of Tesco's premises, and the floodlight would, had it been working, have illuminated where I fell

Who owns the car park?

The_Fat_Controller

If it was not on Tesco's premises you have no claim against them.

If it was a badly maintained footpath you may have had a claim against the owner of that.

As you decided to step onto an unlit area of road and tripped, I cannot see you have a claim against anyone.

As for "hearing" about solicitors taking on cases, have you actually sought legal advice or are you just trying to find a way of getting on the compo bandwagon that is so prevalent these days ?

pinkshoes

I can't see how this is anyone's fault except your own.

You CHOSE to step out into an unlit road. Your alternative was to say "excuse me please" to the people blocking the pavement.

If something had fallen off the roof and forced you to quickly step out into the road, then you would absolutely have a claim, but this was not a sudden action that needed to be taken and was a choice that you made.

p00hsticks

Thesunshinesonme said:

Although the car park facilities are shared between the Express and five other shops, the fall was right outside of Tesco's premises, and the floodlight would, had it been working, have illuminated where I fell.

I have no idea who to go to to make a claim, and wondered if there is anyone on MSE who could give me some advice.

Assuming that the floodlighting was the responsibility of the council, I expect the same sort of principle would apply as to uneven pavements or potholes in roads - that is, in order to claim negligence against them, you'd need to show that the council had been made aware of the defect beforehand and had not acted on that imformation within a reasonable time.

THe same probably applies if it's a private company responsible. In either case, after this length of time I think you;d struggle to show that (unless of course the light is still not working!)

 

And even if you could do so, to get compensation I suspect that you'd also need to convince them that you walking into the road was a sensible thing to do in the circumstances....

unforeseen

Assuming that the floodlighting was the responsibility of the council, I expect the same sort of principle would apply as to uneven pavements or potholes in roads - that is, in order to claim negligence against them, you'd need to show that the council had been made aware of the defect beforehand and had not acted on that imformation within a reasonable time.

There was no defect. OP tripped over a speed bump. 

Ergates

The_Fat_Controller said:

If it was not on Tesco's premises you have no claim against them.

If it was a badly maintained footpath you may have had a claim against the owner of that.

As you decided to step onto an unlit area of road and tripped, I cannot see you have a claim against anyone.

As for "hearing" about solicitors taking on cases, have you actually sought legal advice or are you just trying to find a way of getting on the compo bandwagon that is so prevalent these days ?

I think the OP misspoke - it wasn't a road, it was the carpark.   All of a carpark should be considered a pedestrian area, and as such should be maintained to a level for it to be safe for pedestrians.

sheramber

But there was pavement to walk on safely. The OP chose not use it and stepped onto an area with a speed bump. Pedestrian areas do not have speed bumps,

The_Fat_Controller

@Ergates, the OP tripped over a SPEED HUMP designed to slow down cars not pedestrians, so by definition it was on the part of the carpark designed for traffic.

They have not said there was any issue with the height or any defect, they tripped because they did not see it.

diinozzo

How does one light being out at the far end off a car park affect the visibility at the other end?