In the wake of one woman’s motor accident claim in which a horrific crash that involved an ambulance left her traumatised and injured, she has been awarded £18,500 in personal injury compensation.
North East Ambulance Service Trust has been ordered to pay the personal injury claim of a woman that was injured when an ambulance responding to an emergency call ploughed into her car. Driving to a museum in Redcar in order to pick up her daughter at the time of the incident, Mrs Caron Lake was struck from the side by an ambulance being driven by Mr Colin Hayden.
Traveling at more than 50 miles per hour, the ambulance collision left the woman with severe injuries that have left her with back pain. In addition to her physical injuries, Mrs Lake suffered traumatic shock in the collision. Luckily for the woman the ambulance struck her Nissan Micra’s rear door – if it had collided with the front of the car her injuries could have been truly horrific.
Mrs Lake filed a personal injury compensation claim against North East Ambulance Service Trust, stating that the ambulance’s driver had made several errors just previous to the crash that resulted in the incident’s occurrence.
The Trust admitted it was 100 per cent liable for Mrs Lake’s injuries. It then agreed to a £18,500 payout to the injured woman for both her traumatic shock and her physical injuries.
While emergency response workers are permitted to break a select number of traffic laws in order to fulfil their duties in a swift manner, in this case, when recklessness or errors cause an accident, members of the public are entitled to seek compensatory damages to aid in their recovery.