Industry news roundup: week ended 10 Feb 2014:
Older gents seem to be in the news lately when it comes to persona injury claims, and not on just one side but both!
Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed. For instance, a man from Cofton Hackett has been slapped with a personal injury compensation bill after he picked a fight with a cyclist after an instance of road rage. If there’s any story that will teach you to keep your cool, it’s Bruce Wilson’s: he nearly hit a cyclist as he was getting into the passenger side, and both gentlemen decided to have a bit of a verbal battle.
Unfortunately it didn’t end there. The cyclist decided to have a bit of a temper tantrum, and Mr Wilson, well into his 60s, decided to get back out and give the cyclist a good punch. Then, to punctuate his point, the man picked up the custom racing bike – valued at some £5,000 – and tossed it, causing some serious damage.
In the end, the damage totaled £2,600, and despite that the cyclist might have contributed to the tussle with his own behaviour, the older Mr Wilson accepted full responsibility. Well at least he seems to be a bit more calm now, though I’ll wager he’s kicking himself for letting his emotions get the best of him like that.
Of course, not every personal injury compensation in the news is as amusing, or as minor. In fact, this week a former Ford employee has prevailed on his £33,000 accident claim after the one-time toolmaker ended up with a case of what’s called ‘occupational asthma.’ In other words, the 60 year old man toiled away at the Dagenham-based plant for heaven knows how many years, breathing in all those steel and cast iron particulates and ruining his lungs.
There was never an adequate filtration system set in place in the plant, according to the man’s personal injury solicitors, and nor did his employers provide him any sort of protection such as a simple breath mask or dust filter. Poor bastard. Can you imagine, putting in decades of work at a company like that only to not be cared for? Well, now at least he’s £33,000 richer – maybe now he can breathe a bit easier!