Archives

Councils have been left with huge bills of up to £100 million for repairs to roads following the extreme cold snap Britain has suffered.

The weather conditions have left more than one million potholes, with some craters up to a metre wide. Estimates state that there is a now one pot hole every 100 yards.

According to The Mirror, in the worst hit areas these potholes are equivalent to craters, with huge drops befalling cars that try and negotiate through them. This has already led to damaged exhausts and suspensions, and numerous punctures.
Read More

A man died in Derbyshire after he was prescribed a drug which he was known to be allergic to, an inquest heard yesterday.

According to the BBC, Mr Dennis Aucote, 57, died in March 2008 after suffering an allergic reaction to the drug ibuprofen. Mr Aucote’s doctor’s surgery apparently mixed up his medical notes with those of another patient, a Mr Dennis Allcote. However, Mr Aucote’s medical notes were not entirely clear as to his allergies in any case.

However, before prescribing the drug, Mr Aucote’s GP Dr Andrew Hignett failed to ask him about any allergies.

The court was told that Mr Aucote hurt his shoulder and made an appointment to see his doctor regarding his injuries.  Dr Hignett is alleged to have been looking at Mr Allcote’s medical notes, not Mr Aucote’s, and prescribed ibuprofen for the injury. Mr Aucote went to a chemist, collected the drugs and took one tablet in his home before suffering a violent reaction. He died shortly afterwards.
Read More

A campaign by a Welsh MP to ban the use of tanning salon sunbeds by under-18s is receiving backing from the government and has been lent support by Nicola Roberts, a member of pop group Girls Aloud.

According to the BBC, the singer plans to make a documentary highlighting the dangers of the tanning industry.

Health secretary Andy Burnham said the scientific evidence of harm to skin and a link to skin cancer was clear and the a bill has been put forward by Cardiff North MP Julie Morgan to get the use of salons by under-18s banned.
Read More

A gentleman from Pontefract left paralysed from the neck down following a car crash has been awarded £8.35 million in compensation.

According to the BBC, Mr Lukasz Borowski was a passenger in a work colleague’s car when the driver crashed in to a ditch in Cambridgeshire.

The sum, awarded at Newcastle High court, will pay for Mr Borowski’s long term care. He suffered damage to his spinal cord, a fractured spine and also suffered from brain damage as a result of the road traffic accident. According to Mr Borowski’s lawyer the settlement value was in fact nearly £10.5 million, however, Mr Borowski accepted a 20% reduction in damages because he was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident.
Read More

The UK has been surprised by unreported snow fall over the weekend which has sent the country in to turmoil due to the lack of preparation!

Heavy snow fall has caused congestion across our roads and at many airports…not to mention the channel tunnel we have all been hearing about!

The Daily Mail has reported this evening that blizzard like conditions hit some parts of the UK this afternoon again causing major disruption to the nation’s road and airports. Gatwick airport was forced to divert its flights this afternoon after it had to close its runways for de-icing and Luton airport shortly followed suit.
Read More

We more often than not write our blogs about road traffic accidents involving cars but what about your cyclists out there? How much risk are you guys or gals on our roads?

A study released earlier this month revealed that for every 100 motorists whom are injured in road traffic accidents there are at least 68 injuries to cyclists and pedestrians. This is an alarming statistic given that there are fewer cyclists on our roads than motorists.

Extra care needs to be taken to ensure that there are no cyclists in your path before your proceed. Double check your blind spot before changing lanes and always check that there are cyclists to either side of the vehicle before you turn or set off from traffic lights.

We have given out a lot of advice over the last couple of weeks for motorists but are cyclists at risk too?
Read More

The football tournament the Africa cup of nations started last night with a pulsating 4-4 draw between the hosts Angola and Mali.  However, the tournament has been overshadowed by an attack on the Togo national team bus as the country’s players and football staff entered the country.

Within seconds of crossing from the Republic of Congo in to Cabinda in Angola, gunmen opened fire on the bus using machine guns, killing the bus driver and injuring many more. Sources have now confirmed that the death toll has risen to three in the days following the incident.

The Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (Flec) has stated that it carried out the attack.
Read More

Hope you had a lovely…incident free…New Year and are ready and raring to go for 2010!

Unfortunately, as you have all probably seen the cold weather is still upon us and appears to be worse than ever. Temperatures dropped below freezing and many of us seeing snow showers (some more than others!), it’s not the warmest welcome to 2010 I have to say.

I know it may seem that we keep ‘banging on’ about how dangerous the cold weather is but that’s because it is a daily reality and the ongoing cold weather can only lead to more problems on our roads. We want our blog readers to be as safe as they can be over the next few weeks.

Sky News have this evening reported on only a small handful of incidents around the country due to the snow and ice which is causing havoc on Britain’s roads.
Read More

We all feel that we have been let down by our local health authority on some occasion whether it be the length of time you had to wait for your appointment or being told that you can’t have an appointment for ‘X’ number of weeks.

For some people they only know too well how it feels to be let down by the people whom you should be able to rely on the most.

The family of a patient under the care of Hywel Dda Health Board (Carmarthenshire Local Health Board) will be the first to tell you of their disappointment of the care provided to their severely injured son.

The young gentleman whom is only being referred to as ‘Mr B’ was left with serious brain injuries after being assaulted in July 2006. He was hospitalised for 10 months and required 24 hour nursing care.
Read More

Oil giant Shell and two of its contractors have been fined £283,000 by the Health and Safety Executive following an accident at one of their oil refineries which left a worker paralysed from the waist down.

According to The Times, the accident occurred at the Ellesmere Port  complex in Cheshire in 2007. A 500 kilogram container fell from a height of 30ft down on to the walkway below, landing on Mr Stephen Rizzotti and breaking his back, pelvis and both legs, leaving him wheelchair bound. The HSE labelled the incident as “totally avoidable” and Shell pleaded guilty to contravening the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 at Warrington Crown Court. Shell and its contracting companies conceded that they had “failed to provide a safe working environment” but did note that they “have taken steps…to prevent a recurrence” since the accident.

It is important that the HSE continues to put to task companies who fail in their duty of care to their employees and the scale of this fine will hopefully spur on Shell to continue to make safety adjustments where necessary to ensure that not only is there no recurrence of this incident but also that future potential safety hazards are identified and reasonable provisions put in place to limit the chances of accidents occurring. Employers are required to perform risk assessments on their system of working and operations in general and this is an ongoing requirement which needs regular review to ensure the safety of employees.
Read More