We were contacted by the claimant, through her union, in relation to a slip accident she suffered on a visit to the Royal Terrace Hotel in Edinburgh, where she had taken her grandson so he could use the swimming pool.

The background

The incident occurred in September 2017. After swimming, our client's grandson need to use the swimming pool toilets. Our client, who was in normal outdoor clothes and shoes having been a spectator for the duration of her grandson's swim, was taking her grandson to use the ladies toilets when she slipped on a wet puddle on a sloped tile floor outside the lady's changing area.

Our client fell, landing on her back with her arm twisted behind her.

The consequences

The claimant was in pain and crying following her accident. Most of the pain was felt in her shoulder and although an x-ray showed no evidence of any breaks or fractures, she was forced to take six months off work and was diagnosed with a rotator cuff frozen shoulder injury.

At the time of making her claim she was still unable to put her arm behind her shoulder or to perform simple manual tasks such as getting dressed. She had become heavily reliant on the assistance of friends and family for the performance of her usual daily tasks and received physiotherapy treatment for the frozen shoulder.

Following the accident, the hotel placed a non-slip mat on floor in order to prevent a similar incident from occurring.

The settlement

After being contacted by Thompsons' slip accident solicitors in Scotland, third party insurers representing the defender admitted liability. They made a pre-litigation offer of £9,000 slip accident claim compensation.

This was accepted by the client and formalised on 1 July 2019.