Our client, Mrs Laura Gunn, suffered a head injury during the course of her employment at a branch of Morrisons Supermarkets in Aberdeen. She was referred to Thompsons personal injury solicitors via her union, Usdaw.

The background

At the time of her supermarket accident, on 12 July 2017, Mrs Gunn had worked at Morrisons for more than three years. On the day of the incident she was working as a sales assistant in the Home and Leisure Department and had been tasked with replenishing magazines and newspapers – taking stock from the warehouse to the various display stands. Our client remembers feeling under significant pressure to get the work done quickly on the day.

As she stacked items onto the magazine display, her head struck a protruding shelf. Immediately after the incident, our client went to sit down and called for a first aider. Our client quickly felt a headache coming on. Her manager was called and she told Mrs Gunn to take painkillers and return to work. However, our client's speech soon started to become slurred and she felt severe fatigue.

Mrs Gunn was transported to A & E by a colleague. She was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome with associated headaches.

The consequences

Mrs Gunn attempted to return to work a few days after the incident but the post-concussion symptoms returned. She had to take more than three weeks sick leave. Our client believes the accident has caused an increase in the frequency of migraines she suffers and she has also suffered episodes of dizziness.

The settlement

The defender, Morrisons Supermarkets, denied liability and was not prepared to make an offer in respect of a work accident compensation settlement until court proceedings were raised.

Thompsons intimated court proceedings and the defender responded with an offer of £5,000.

We advised our client that this was a reasonable offer and the case was settled on 22 January 2021.