On the day of the accident, the Claimant was visiting a shop (‘the Defendant’) which had its own car park located within its premises. It was late morning by the time she arrived and was parked up in the car park.
She started to make her way across the car park when she was suddenly caused to slip and fall on ice that had been permitted to remain a hazard on the floor. As a result, she sustained a fracture to her arm.
The claim was submitted to the Defendant’s insurers via the claims portal so that they could investigate the matter. Unfortunately, the insurers did not respond within the timescales allowed, so the Claimant’s solicitors were required to make an application to Court for Pre-Action Disclosure.
After this application was made, the insurers confirmed an admission of liability on behalf of the Defendant. As such, the Claimant proceeded to obtain medical evidence and collate her losses and expenses. A settlement was consequently negotiated with the insurers on the basis of the evidence available which the Claimant was very happy with.
In most circumstances, claims involving a slip on snow and/or ice are difficult to prove. Most occur on a public highway where the local council is responsible for the inspections/maintenance and the action they can take is limited by the resources available to them.
The reason the Claimant’s claim in this scenario succeeded, was due to the fact the Defendant had been on notice of a prolonged period of icy weather before the accident and due to the time of day that accident occurred.
The Claimant’s solicitors were able to argue that they ought to have known about the hazard posed by the ice beforehand, and as they had plenty of time to grit the car park that morning but had failed to do so, they had not taken reasonable action from preventing a foreseeable accident from occurring.
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