A trip to the supermarket is something most people do at least once a week. Whether it’s a smaller high street supermarket or an out-of-town supermarket, many of us choose to try and get as much of our shopping in one place. While there aren’t usually any problems, accidents in supermarkets can and do happen. When they do, you may be eligible to make a supermarket accident claim for compensation for any injuries if they were caused because of somebody else’s negligence.

In this guide to supermarket accident compensation claims, we look at what type of supermarket accidents can happen, when they might lead to a personal injury claim, and how to calculate the amount of compensation you might receive. This applies whether you’re a member of the public injured by a slip and fall while shopping, or a member of staff injured at work, you could make a supermarket accident compensation claim for any pain, suffering or financial losses.

To check whether we could help you start a supermarket accident claim, you can call us right now on 0800 6524 881. If you’d rather read more about claiming compensation before calling, please continue reading.

Am I Eligible To Make A Supermarket Accident Claim?

Because most personal injury solicitors only get paid if they win the cases they work on, they have a set of criteria that should be met before taking on a supermarket accident claim. Therefore, they’ll check whether:

1. You were owed a duty of care by the supermarket; and
2. The owner or their staff were negligent and caused an accident; and
3. You suffered an injury or were made ill due to that negligence.

It’s not that hard to prove that a duty of care exists as supermarkets are obliged to take steps to try and keep customers, visitors, and staff as safe as possible while on the supermarket premises. This is thanks to legislation such as the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 and Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, as explained below.

Your Rights To Supermarket Accident Compensation

Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, supermarket owners and managers are legally bound to make sure that their premises are safe for all who use them. This includes visitors who shop at the supermarket, and workers who are employed to do any work associated with the supermarket, whether it is at the checkout, storeroom, customer service, clean-up tasks, or tending to car parking areas.

According to the Act, anyone who owns or occupies commercial premises, which includes supermarkets, has a legal duty of care to put measures in place so that those premises are safe for all visitors and workers. If the supermarket has failed in their duty of care and you are injured because of it you may be entitled to claim supermarket accident compensation.

Worker safety is also covered under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, which requires employers to ensure the safety of all supermarket workers. This goes beyond providing workers with personal protective equipment. Employers must also provide their employees with extensive training on good work practices and injury prevention.

Once it’s been established you were owed a duty of care by the supermarket, you’d then move on to trying to establish that the supermarket’s negligence caused you to suffer an injury. This can be achieved by several pieces of evidence that you can gather.

Evidence To Support A Supermarket Accident Claim

If you are injured in a supermarket, we would suggest taking as many of the steps below as possible to get evidence:

• Report what happened. By telling supermarket staff about your accident, a report should be filed. Your copy could be used to help prove the date, time, and location of your accident.
• Seek treatment for your injuries. We suggest that you should always visit A&E or a minor injuries unit if you are injured in a supermarket. After treatment, you can request a copy of your medical records and they could help prove what injuries you suffered.
• Take pictures. After an accident in a supermarket, the cause is likely to be cleared away or fixed. Therefore, it is a good idea to take pictures before that happens to help prove what caused your injuries.
• Get witness details. A statement from an independent witness can really clarify what led to your accident.
• Ask for CCTV. Many supermarkets have CCTV cameras covering their aisles and their warehouses. If you’ve been injured, you’re well within your rights to ask for a copy of the footage to be sent to you.

While you might find these tasks tiresome, they can really improve the chances of winning a supermarket accident compensation claim. Similarly, they can speed up the claims process as the evidence gathered can make it easier to prove liability. If you’d like us to review the evidence you’ve collected for free, please call us.

Supermarket Accidents That Could Lead To A Compensation Claim

Some of the more common supermarket accidents that could lead to a compensation claim include:

• Warehouse cage accidents. Wheeled cages are often used to move stock from the warehouse to the shop floor. If you are injured because a cage is pushed into you or because the contents of one fall onto you, a claim might be possible.
• Damaged or faulty shelving. A shelving accident caused by damaged or faulty supermarket shelving can lead to trapped fingers, cuts and bruises, or injuries caused because of falling stock.
• Slips, trips and falls. Supermarkets have a duty of care to try and keep the aisles as clear as possible. That means that if spillages, cleaning activity, or leaks cause a wet floor, they should be cleared as quickly as possible and warning signs used to prevent slips and falls.
• Manual handling injuries. If you work in a supermarket, you should be trained on how to move heavy items. Similarly, aids should be provided to help move awkward loads. If you suffer a manual handling injury whilst working for a supermarket, you could make a claim.
• Supermarket car parks. If you’re hurt in a supermarket car park due to unrepaired defects such as potholes and other trip hazards, you could be compensated for your injuries.

We are happy to review supermarket accident compensation claims on a no-obligation basis. We offer free advice and will explain your options for free. Where the claim appears to have strong grounds, we could appoint one of our personal injury lawyers to help you on a No Win No Fee basis.

How Much Compensation For A Supermarket Accident?

If you proceed with a compensation claim against a supermarket, your solicitor will base how much compensation to claim for on two different heads of loss. These are:

• General damages are claimed if you have endured any pain or suffering. This can include psychiatric injuries as well as physical injuries. To assess the extent of your injuries, you may be asked to attend a local medical review with an independent specialist. They’ll examine your injuries and report back on your prognosis.
• Special damages aim to recover any expenses, financial losses or other costs caused by your injuries. They could include private medical treatment, travel costs, lost earnings and care costs amongst other things.

If you’d like to know what you could be compensated for in a supermarket injury claim, please get in touch today.

Supermarket Compensation Claims Calculator

In this section, we’ve included a handy injury compensation calculator to help you work out how much compensation (for general damages) might be paid for your supermarket injuries. These compensation estimates are based on guidelines published by the Judicial College and are the figures solicitors and lawyers use when valuing claims.

What we should say is that there’s no guarantee about how much compensation might be awarded if you make a successful claim. The figures here can go up or down as every case is unique. A personal injury solicitor from our team will give a more personalised estimate if your claim is taken on.

Time Limits For Claiming Supermarket Accident Compensation

Every personal injury claim is bound by a time limit. Generally, claims for injuries in supermarkets must be made within 3 years of the date you were injured. If you would like to claim on behalf of a child as a litigation friend, this time limit won’t apply. Instead, you are able to claim compensation at any time before the child turns 18 years old. After that, they’ll have 3-years to claim themselves if you’ve not already done so.

While 3-years might seem a long time, we would advise you to begin your supermarket compensation claim as soon as you can. By doing so, you will find it much easier to recollect what happened and how your injuries affected you at the time. Additionally, solicitors must carry out a number of tasks before filing the claim. Therefore, if you contact them sooner rather than later, they’ll have plenty of time to organise everything.

An advisor will check how long you have left to make your claim once they’ve reviewed everything with you.

Using A Personal Injury Solicitor For A Supermarket Compensation Claim

While the supermarket might be sympathetic and apologetic at the time you’re injured, they won’t deal with your compensation claim themselves. Instead, everything will be passed on to the supermarket’s insurers. Generally, they won’t pay compensation to you unless you can demonstrate exactly how the accident was caused by their client’s negligence.

That can be a tricky thing to do and that’s why we believe it’s best to have a personal injury solicitor looking out for you. As part of their service, they’ll gather the evidence needed to present a clear case that you should be compensated. If any arguments are raised, they’ll fight your corner to try and make sure you receive the right level of compensation. While our solicitors try to do everything for you during the claims process, they’ll also make sure you’re kept in the loop by providing regular updates about progress.

Starting The Supermarket Accident Claims Process

You’ll be relieved to know that you can contact our personal injury solicitors to help you with your supermarket compensation claim without paying any money upfront. Our personal injury solicitors go out of their way to make it easy for clients to get the compensation due to them without asking for any fees upfront. You do not even have to pay for the first or any subsequent consultations.

Instead, they work using a No Win No Fee agreement, which means they will represent you without charging you anything at the outset. You only pay a success fee if and when the solicitor wins the case on your behalf and the court awards you compensation. The fee that you pay is a percentage of the sum awarded to you by the court and is set and agreed upon prior to action being taken.

If you’d like to start the supermarket accident claims process with us on a No Win No Fee basis, please feel free to call 0800 6524 881 today for a free review of your case.