Doing a food shop in a supermarket is something that most of us do on a weekly basis. When we do our food shops, the only complication that we should expect is the supermarket not having everything in stock that’s on our list. However, if the owners of the supermarket neglect their duty of care, it is possible that a member of the public could unfortunately be hurt.
If you have been injured in a supermarket, we discuss when you could be eligible to claim compensation. We firstly explain what duty of care is owed to you while you are out in public and at what point supermarket accident claims can be made. We then list some examples of how a supermarket accident could happen as a result of a breached duty of care.
Furthermore, we provide information on what types of evidence are best to prove a public liability claim and the different forms of compensation that could be awarded for a supermarket injury. To conclude this guide, we discuss how a personal injury solicitor from our panel could help you claim compensation on a No Win No Fee basis.
If you believe you are eligible for personal injury compensation, have a chat with one of our friendly team members. They can evaluate your case and give you free advice on how to claim compensation for your supermarket injury . You can contact us at any time and for free:
- Call 0800 408 7825.
- Fill out the ‘contact us‘ form.
- Chat in our live message box.
Jump To A Section
- What Are Supermarket Accident Claims?
- Can I Make A Supermarket Injury Claim?
- What Evidence Could Help Me Claim Accident In A Supermarket Compensation?
- How Much Compensation For Supermarket Injury Claims?
- How Can We Help You Claim For An Accident In A Supermarket?
- Read More About Public Liability Claims
What Are Supermarket Accident Claims?
A supermarket accident compensation claim can be made if a member of the public is injured due to the occupier of a supermarket breaching their duty of care.
The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 states that all occupiers of public spaces (anyone who has control of a public space) owe a legal duty of care to all members of the public who use their space as lawfully intended. In order to fulfil their duty of care, occupiers must take steps to ensure the public’s reasonable safety.
Just a few steps that occupiers should take include: responding to reports of hazards as quickly as possible; regularly checking the maintenance of the space’s equipment and facilities; and putting health and safety procedures in place.
As such, here are the supermarket accident claims eligibility criteria:
- An occupier of a supermarket owed you a duty of care.
- This occupier breached their duty of care.
- You were injured because of this breach
If you are unsure whether you may have a valid public liability claim, you can contact our advisors.
Can I Make A Supermarket Injury Claim?
There are various types of accidents that could occur within a supermarket. Below, we have listed a few examples of how an occupier of a supermarket could breach their duty of care and potentially cause a visitor to be injured:
- A pint of milk is spilt in a supermarket aisle. However, despite there being complaints about the wet floor, the spillage has not been cleaned and no wet floor signs have been displayed. This causes a visitor to slip and fall on the spillage and suffer broken and fractured bones.
- Due to not performing regular risk assessments, a supermarkets occupier failed to notice an overhead hanging display sign has not been properly secured to the ceiling. This results in the sign falling on top of a customer and they suffer a serious head injury and concussion.
- A staff member is using a faulty roll cage to transfer stock from the back to the supermarket floor. However, the occupier has not recently checked the cage’s maintenance, so the staff member is unaware that the wheels are faulty. Faulty wheels on a roll cage could fall off and cause the cage to topple over. If there are heavy objects on the roll cage and a visitor is standing next to it, the visitor could be hit and suffer crushing injuries.
Supermarket accidents could happen in a number of ways and are not exclusive to just this list. So, have a chat with our team today about what has happened to you specifically. We will be able to tell you whether you are eligible to claim compensation for your supermarket injury.
What Evidence Could Help Me Claim Accident In A Supermarket Compensation?
Gathering evidence is an important step in the supermarket accident claims process. The evidence you collect will need to prove the type of accident you were injured in, the severity of your injuries and how the supermarket’s occupier was liable for them.
Some examples of evidence you could gather to support your supermarket compensation claim include:
- CCTV footage from the supermarket that shows the accident.
- Photographs of your supermarket injury and the cause of the accident (for example, if it was a faulty roll cage).
- Contact details from witnesses so a statement could be taken from them later on.
- Your medical records and copies of any doctor’s reports detailing your injuries.
- A diary where you have noted your symptoms and needed medical treatment.
What Is The Time Limit To Claim Supermarket Injury Compensation?
The Limitation Act 1980 states that all personal injury claims have a general time limit of 3 years from the date the injury was suffered.
In some circumstances, the general time limit will be paused, and a litigation friend can step in. These apply to cases where the claimant is not yet 18 years old or lacks the mental capacity to manage their own case.
To learn more about these time limit exceptions, you can contact a member of our friendly advisory team. In addition, they could offer you free advice for your case and potentially connect you with one of the personal injury solicitors on our panel. They could then help guide you through the entire supermarket accident claims process.
How Much Compensation For Supermarket Injury Claims?
For successful supermarket accident claims, the compensation awarded could potentially consist of two different heads of loss: special and general damages.
A general damages payout covers the psychiatric and physical effects you have suffered due to your injuries. Some factors that can determine a general damages payout include:
- Pain severity and injury type.
- Recovery time.
- Quality of life changes.
An independent medical assessment may take place during the claims process. The reports from this can be used alongside the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to determine the worth of a general damages payout. Within the JCG are different guideline compensation brackets for different psychiatric and physical injuries at varying levels of severity.
Guideline Injuries Table
We have included a guideline injuries table to give you a rough idea of how much compensation you could be awarded for different types of supermarket injuries. Except for the first figure, all of these guideline figures and injuries have been taken from the JCG. These are just some of the injuries that could be sustained following a supermarket accident.
Since this table is only to be used as a guide, please remember that the compensation you will potentially receive could differ from the figures listed below.
| Injury | Severity | Guideline compensation figure |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple injuries that are serious and their financial costs | Serious | Up to £1,000,000+ |
| Head | Very Severe (a) | £344,150 to £493,000 |
| Leg | Severe (b) (i) | £177,460 to £165,860 |
| Less serious (c) (i) | £21,920 to £33,880 | |
| Arm | Severe (a) | £117,360 to £159,770 |
| Less severe (c) | £23,430 to £47,810 | |
| Pelvis and hips | Severe (a) (i) | £95,680 to £159,770 |
| Moderate (b) (i) | £32,450 to £47,810 | |
| Back | Severe (a) (iii) | £47,320 to £85,100 |
| Ankle | Severe (b) | £38,210 to £61,090 |
Special Damages
A special damages payout covers the financial losses you have suffered due to your injuries. Some financial losses which you may have lost following a supermarket accident include:
- Loss of earnings, due to taking time off work to recover.
- Medical bills, like prescription costs.
- Travel expenses to get to and from hospital appointments.
A special damages payout helps restore your finances to what they were before your public place accident. Unfortunately though, while general damages are always awarded when a personal injury claim is successful, special damages are not. As such, evidence is vital when trying to receive this payout. Evidence can be receipts, payslips, invoices, or bank statements.
Our team can give you more information on supermarket accident compensation claims. Additionally, if you contact them today, they could provide you with a free valuation of your potential compensation for your case.
How Can We Help You Claim For An Accident In A Supermarket?
If our team assesses that you are eligible to make a supermarket accident claim, they could connect you with a specialist solicitor on our panel. Additionally, the solicitors on our panel usually offer their services to their clients on a No Win No Fee basis.
By offering to represent you under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), there will be no upfront service fees to pay. You also will not need to pay them for the work they have provided if the claim fails.
If you do successfully receive compensation, then your solicitor can keep a small percentage of your compensation as a success fee. The law limits the percentage a success fee can be. This cap helps ensure that you still receive the majority of your compensation.
Contact Us Today
The No Win No Fee solicitors on our panel have worked on many supermarket accident claims in the past, and they could help you with yours. To see if you could be eligible to work with one of them, you can contact our advisors:
- Call 0800 408 7825
- Fill out the ‘contact us‘ form.
- Chat in our live message box.
Read More About Public Liability Claims
Here are our similar public liability claim guides:
- Find out if there is an average payout for a slip and fall claim in the UK.
- Learn about making a claim for an accident in a pub in this guide.
- Advice on whether you should accept a personal injury compensation offer without a solicitor.
These external pages might provide you with additional useful information:
- Guidance on when to call 999 from the NHS.
- Information on receiving Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for missing work due to an injury from Gov.UK.
- Advice on fall prevention from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).
Hopefully, our supermarket accident claims guide has answered all of your questions. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any additional questions this guide may have not covered.