HAULAGE DRIVER AWARDED £67,500 AFTER SUSTAINING KNEE INJURY AT WORK

In March 2015 Mr A, a Class 2 haulage driver, sustained an injury to his knee whilst delivering goods for his employers.

He tried to work on for a couple of days but the pain became so bad that he had to take time off sick.

He instructed our lawyers and we wrote to the company and thereafter corresponded with their insurers.

They admitted liability for the accident.

Mr A, being in financial difficulties, went back to speak to his employers to ask whether or not there was any way that he could return to work on lighter duties.  They said that he could do local rather than national deliveries, but because that would involve a great deal of getting in and out of the vehicle and manoeuvring the cargo, he felt that it would be inappropriate and therefore he remained on sick.

Some twelve months later he decided that he would move to the west country and, having gone to see his new GP, he was recommended to a different orthopaedic consultant who advised that he should have surgery for the crucial ligament injury that he had sustained.

The surgery was successful and within three months he had found employment with a local haulage company earning a salary in excess of that which he had enjoyed in his previous employment.

At that point we obtained a report from a medical expert on his injuries and calculated his financial losses which were then submitted to the company’s insurers who offered just over £45,000 in full settlement of the claim.

They sought to argue that Mr A had been offered lighter duties and that he would have been out of work in any event having decided to move to the west country.

We pointed out that the medical report supported his argument that simply doing local rather than national deliveries would not constitute lighter duties and would have been impossible in the light of his serious knee injury.

We were also able to adduce evidence that there were jobs available for haulage drivers in the west country but it was his injury that precluded him from working.

After some considerable negotiation the claim finally settled in the sum of £67,500.