£4,000 Injury Settlement for Accident in Play Area

Ward & Rider Solicitors, have acted for Master A* through his father and representative.  The family are based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.  On a summer's day they had gone to a local public house with Master A and his friend.  Whilst playing on the climbing frame in the designated children's play area, he lost his footing and fell through the netting which was designed to stop him falling too far.  He hit the surface of the play area which resulted in a personal injury.  Initially another solicitor who specialised in personal injury claims dealt with this matter, but they felt that the claim was not strong enough to succeed.

We argued that there were two problems with the apparatus.  Firstly, the netting was not effective which led to the accident .  Secondly, the surface of the play area was worn around the base of the climbing frame which exposed the frame’s foundations.  This led to the accident claim.

Master A fortunately did not suffer significant injuries in this accident, a blow to his head and some soft tissue injuries.  His parents spent a lot of their own time in the weeks that followed looking after him, particularly watching out for any suggestion of a serious head injury which could have led to a significant amount of brain damage.  Thankfully this was not the case and our client recovered from the head injury suffered in this accident comparatively quickly.

When we first contacted the insurers they disputed liability.  They had previously done this when the first firm instructed contacted them.  They argued that the accident was not their client's fault and they would not be liable for this personal injuiry

We pointed to the witness statements of not only Master A's parents, but also the statement of his friend and the medical records which were produced as a result of this accident by the ambulance crew who attended upon our client immediately following the accident.  In addition, we had photographic and video evidence showing the area.  It was clearly in a poor state of repair and this led to the accident claim for the child.

Ultimately they accepted the fact that our client had suffered personal injuries and that his parents had spent time looking after him and had also incurred costs in terms of taking him to and from the doctor and taking some time off work which led to a loss of earnings claim on their part.  Thankfully, he made a decent recovery from his personal injury.  After some negotiation, which resulted in a number of offers passing between the parties' representatives, we were able to secure the sum of £4,000.00 for his personal injury claim which resulted from this accident.  They also paid his legal fees which were incurred by the accident claim.

*Master A’s name has been changed to respect his privacy but this is indeed a true case.