Can a supermarket legitimately deny negligence for a slip accident?

Can a supermarket legitimately deny negligence for a slip accident?

It’s difficult to know whether your claim for a supermarket slip will be successful or not when we take it on at the start of the case. For us to be able to find out if you have a claim or not, we need to submit a claim form to the supermarket (or their insurers) and allow them time to investigate the claim.

Whether you can win depends entirely on evidence from the other side – so when can a supermarket legitimately deny liability, and what can we do about it?

Firstly, if you have been dealing directly and they have denied liability then give us a call right away. The sooner you let a specialist law firm like us properly deal with the claim, the sooner we can safeguard potentially vital evidence for the case. CCTV is often crucial for proving your case and as soon as this is erased you could face a real uphill battle to prove your case.

A supermarket can legitimately deny liability where they:

• Have a reasonable system of inspection and maintenance to spot and clear slipping hazards
• Where they have policies and procedures for staff to look out for hazards an clear them – often known as “clean as you go”
• Where signs or cordons are deployed at spillage sites

If the supermarket can prove that they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent a hazard they can dispute liability. The Occupiers Liability Act is the legislation that we use to pursue a claim and the law says that the supermarket must take all reasonable steps like those above. So if they can prove they have then they can defend the claim.

Why is CCTV important?

CCTV could show how long a spillage has really been there – not how long it’s been there according to potentially inaccurate records. This vital footage could show that the supermarket has failed in their duty of care for you, but they may not retain it, simply because you have made a claim or have corresponded with them. We need to make clear in correspondence that we want it retained or they are probably going to get rid of it.

Most supermarkets only keep footage for a few weeks so time is of the essence. Don’t delay – call us today and make your claim immediately.

Call our claims helpline on 0800 634 7575!