A pensioner who was left unable to leave her house for six months after slipping in a supermarket and suffering a nasty knee injury has told how the compensation awarded to her will make a “big difference” to her standard of living.
The woman, who reportedly has five grandchildren, has refused to disclose how much she will receive in the out-of-court settlement, but has relived the “nightmare” that plagued her in the months that followed what should have been a routine trip to the shops in May 2008.
The elderly lady lost her footing and slipped on what it believed to have been vegetable matter on the floor and she was diagnosed at Peterborough District Hospital with a fractured tibial plateau, which is just below the knee.
A cast was fitted to her leg and she returned home several days later, only for the cast to leave her with an ankle stress fracture, which prolonged her recovery from four to six months in the process.
Left isolated in her first-floor flat, the woman struggled to cope and has since been told by a specialist that she will require replacement knee surgery at some point in the next five years, and that her chances of developing Osteoarthritis are rated as 50 per cent.
For now, though, she is concentrating on continuing to get her life back on track after winning her compensation claim.
She told the Peterborough Telegraph: “When I first broke it I couldn’t get downstairs. It was a nightmare, I couldn’t even get my own post.
“Apart from two hospital visits I didn’t even go downstairs in six months, it was awful. The money I got is going to make a big difference to my life. It means I won’t have to worry so much about all the little things and I can maybe put a little bit more money on the electricity and gas meters during winter.”
Her lawyer said: “Whilst we have secured a good level of compensation for [the woman], she faces uncertainty as to her future health and would much prefer to have remained the active person that she was.
“Businesses have health and safety obligations towards their customers and must accept that they have a responsibility to compensate victims of accidents caused when such obligations are not met.”
Amazingly, this is the second time this year that the same store has been at the centre of a successful compensation claim as a man was awarded £10,500 in damages back in May after slipping on a grape back in January 2008.
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