A man succeeded in a personal injury claim, Swain v Geoffrey Osborne Ltd and P J Brown Ltd, against a builder and their subcontractors after falling in slippery mud on a site being cleared for building.
Mr Swain was a lorry driver who had been instructed to collect a load of shuttering. He attempted to reverse his lorry into the entrance of the building site, which was not straightforward as he could not reverse from the same side as the entrance due to bollards in the centre of the road so he had to manoeuvre the lorry diagonally across the road with the lorry trailer near to the entrance and the lorry’s cab facing oncoming traffic in the opposite lane. The lorry driver did not have anyone from the building site to guide him in reversing the lorry.
To check his position, the driver got down from the cab and walked around the front to look at the nearside. He was wearing non slip work boots. As he passed the driver’s door, his feet slipped on the mud and he fell. The fall injured his left ankle and he remained on the ground, eventually being taken by paramedics to the local hospital.
The defendants argued that the driver had “jumped down” from the cab so sustained injury rather than slipping in mud. They also denied the pavement was muddy at the time of the accident. The defendants did have a system in place to minimise mud spreading outside the site. This system involved checking the road three times a day and using a mechanical sweeper toward the end of the working day to clear up the road. However, the Court found that this system was inadequate and the defendants should have washed the wheels of any vehicle leaving the site.
Evidence supported the driver’s version of events, showing that he had climbed down from the cab and slipped as he passed the cab’s door and that there was mud on the ground at the time of the accident.
The Court considered whether the driver was partly to blame for his accident. It was decided that the driver should have taken more care as he knew the ground was likely to be slippery due to mud. Therefore he was found to be 25% contributorily negligent which meant that his compensation for his injury was reduced by 25%.
If you have been injured in an accident on a street or near a building site that was someone else’s fault, please contact Elizabeth Lawrenson on 0116 212 1000 now or complete one of the on-line forms for a free initial consultation.
