Accidents While Shopping

Accidents While Shopping

At The Injury Lawyers, we frequently speak to people who have been injured whilst out shopping at the supermarket.  Often they want to know if they have a claim, and if we are happy to advise them for free about their chances of winning. 

We advise that any potential claim can be brought about as an Occupier’s Liability claim, which means that if you are a visitor to premises, in this case a supermarket, the supermarket owes you a duty of care to ensure that you are safe whilst in their premises. 

So, if you have an accident at a supermarket and believe it was not your fault, you could bring a claim for compensation against the supermarket for neglecting this duty of care.

Supermarkets are hazardous places, believe it or not.  Hundreds of accidents happen in supermarkets every week.  For instance, someone may slip on a spillage, an item may come off a shelf and fall on someone, or you may trip over an item that has been left loose on the floor.  If in these circumstances, though this list is not exhaustive, you have been injured, you could have a potential claim for compensation.  A lot depends on a variety of factors.  For instance, if you slip on a spillage, we need to know if the supermarket has an adequate system of inspection in place to make sure this was cleaned up as quickly as possible – or were the signs in place warning customers of the potential danger?  Alternatively, was the item that fell off a shelf negligently stacked? 

At first it might not be clear whether the supermarket has in fact breached its duty of care, and that is why you should contact a quality injury lawyer to discuss your accident; after all, we are experts in the field of personal injury, and we have brought thousands of supermarket claims in the past.

Importantly, to help make sure you have the best possible chance of bringing a claim for compensation for injuries sustained in a supermarket, you should report your accident straight away and make sure it is put in the accident book which each supermarket is required to have.  This ensures that there is a record of the accident, and gets your claim off to the best possible start.  Further, the sooner you seek expert legal advice, the better.  Although you have three years in which to make your claim, matters are fresher in people’s minds after the accident, and if there are any witnesses, their recollection of events is likely to be better. You may also need to get hold of CCTV footage which will more than likely have been destroyed after two – to four weeks or so.

For some further free legal advice get in touch with us at The Injury Lawyers today.