A quick supermarket shop can turn into a painful and stressful experience if you slip on a spillage, trip over an obstruction or fall because of an unsafe floor.
Supermarkets in Accrington deal with hundreds or thousands of customers every day. With people moving through entrances, aisles, tills, chilled food areas and car parks, there are many opportunities for hazards to develop. Wet floors, leaking products, dropped food, damaged flooring and items left in walkways can all potentially create risks.
If you are injured in a supermarket, however, the fact that you fell does not automatically mean that you are entitled to compensation.
The important question is whether the supermarket or another responsible party failed to take reasonable steps to keep shoppers reasonably safe.
What can cause a supermarket slip or trip?
Supermarket accidents can happen for many different reasons. Some hazards are obvious, while others may be difficult to see until it is too late.
Common examples include:
- Water or other liquids spilled on the floor
- Food dropped in an aisle
- Leaking bottles or containers
- Wet floors following cleaning
- Rainwater brought into the store
- Poorly maintained flooring
- Uneven or damaged surfaces
- Loose mats or floor coverings
- Boxes, stock or equipment left in walkways
- Cables or other obstructions
- Poor lighting that makes a hazard difficult to see
- Obstacles around entrances, exits or tills
The Health and Safety Executive identifies spillages and water being walked into supermarkets as particular slip risks. Its guidance also highlights the importance of suitable flooring, effective cleaning and responding promptly when contamination occurs.
This does not mean every wet floor or obstacle amounts to negligence. The circumstances surrounding the accident need to be considered.
Can you claim compensation after falling in a supermarket?
Potentially, yes.
Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, an occupier generally owes visitors a common duty of care. This means taking such care as is reasonable in the circumstances to ensure visitors are reasonably safe while using the premises for the purposes for which they are permitted to be there.
For a supermarket accident claim, this can involve looking at questions such as:
- What caused you to fall?
- How long had the hazard been present?
- Should supermarket staff have known about it?
- Were reasonable inspection procedures in place?
- Was the hazard cleaned or removed promptly?
- Was there a warning sign?
- Was the warning adequate in the circumstances?
- Was the flooring damaged or unsuitable?
- Did the supermarket have records of previous incidents or complaints?
- Did the hazard cause your injury?
A supermarket may have procedures for inspecting its floors and dealing with spillages. Evidence about whether those procedures were followed can therefore become important.
A warning sign does not automatically end a claim
It is sometimes assumed that a supermarket cannot be held responsible if a yellow warning sign has been placed near a wet floor.
That is not necessarily the case.
The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 states that a warning does not automatically absolve an occupier from liability. The circumstances must be considered, including whether the warning was sufficient to allow the visitor to be reasonably safe.
For example, a warning sign may be relevant evidence, but it does not necessarily answer every question about how the accident happened.
The position will depend on the individual circumstances.
What should you do immediately after a supermarket accident?
The steps you take after an accident can make a significant difference to the evidence available later.
1. Report the accident
Tell a member of staff or the duty manager what happened.
Ask for the accident to be recorded in the supermarket’s accident book or incident reporting system. Make a note of who you spoke to and, where possible, obtain confirmation that the incident has been reported.
Do not assume that reporting the accident means the supermarket accepts responsibility. It simply creates an important record that the incident occurred.
2. Take photographs
If you are physically able to do so, photograph the hazard that caused the accident.
Take wider photographs showing where the accident happened as well as closer photographs showing the specific hazard.
For example, if you slipped on a liquid, photographs could show:
- The liquid on the floor
- The surrounding area
- Any warning signs
- The distance between the hazard and nearby staff or tills
- The condition of the flooring
- Lighting and visibility around the area
If the hazard is cleaned up shortly afterwards, your photographs could become particularly important.
3. Look for witnesses
If anyone saw you fall or saw the hazard before the accident, ask for their contact details if they are willing to provide them.
Witnesses can sometimes provide useful evidence about what happened, particularly where there is a disagreement about the circumstances of the accident.
4. Keep your receipt
Keep your supermarket receipt and any other evidence showing that you were shopping in the store at the time.
The receipt may help establish when you were there and can support the account of the accident.
5. Get medical attention
Some injuries are immediately obvious. Others become more painful over the following hours or days.
If you have been injured, seek appropriate medical attention and explain that the injury occurred during a supermarket accident.
Keep records of appointments, treatment, prescriptions and other relevant medical information.
What evidence can help with a supermarket accident claim?
A successful personal injury claim generally needs evidence linking the accident, the circumstances surrounding it and the injury suffered.
Potential evidence can include:
- Photographs of the accident location
- Photographs of the hazard
- CCTV footage
- Accident book or incident reports
- Witness statements
- Supermarket inspection records
- Cleaning records
- Staff reports
- Receipts
- Medical records
- Photographs of visible injuries
- Evidence of financial losses
CCTV can be particularly important in supermarket accident cases.
Many stores have extensive camera coverage, but recordings are not necessarily kept indefinitely. This is one reason why it is sensible to seek legal advice promptly if you believe you have suffered a significant injury.
What if there was no obvious hazard?
Not every supermarket accident involves a visible spillage.
You could, for example, trip because of:
- A damaged floor tile
- An uneven surface
- A loose mat
- A broken threshold
- Poorly maintained flooring
- An obstruction in an aisle
- Equipment or stock positioned in a walkway
In these situations, the condition of the premises and how the area was maintained may become particularly important.
The key issue is not simply whether you fell. The evidence needs to establish why you fell and whether the responsible party failed to take reasonable care.
What injuries can result from supermarket falls?
A slip or trip can cause anything from a relatively minor injury to significant and long-lasting damage.
Possible injuries include:
- Sprains and strains
- Soft tissue injuries
- Wrist and hand injuries
- Shoulder injuries
- Knee injuries
- Ankle injuries
- Fractures
- Back injuries
- Neck injuries
- Head injuries
- Psychological symptoms following a serious accident
The seriousness of the injury is relevant when considering compensation, but the amount of compensation cannot be determined simply from the type of accident.
Medical evidence is normally important in establishing the nature and extent of an injury.
Can you claim for financial losses as well as your injury?
Potentially.
A personal injury claim can involve more than compensation for the physical injury itself.
Depending on the circumstances, losses could include:
- Lost earnings
- Future loss of earnings
- Travel expenses
- Prescription costs
- Treatment expenses
- Care and assistance provided by family members
- Damage to personal belongings
- Other reasonable expenses arising from the accident
You should keep receipts, payslips and other documents relating to losses connected with the accident.
What if you were partly responsible?
Being partly responsible for an accident does not necessarily mean that you cannot make a claim.
For example, there may be questions about whether a hazard was obvious or whether reasonable care was taken by the person who fell.
Where both sides are considered to have contributed to an accident, the amount of compensation may be affected by contributory negligence.
This is another reason why the circumstances need to be considered individually rather than assuming that a fall automatically results in a successful claim.
Does the supermarket have to admit responsibility?
No.
A supermarket may dispute responsibility for an accident. It may argue that the hazard was not present for long enough to be identified and dealt with, that reasonable inspection procedures were being followed, or that the accident happened for another reason.
The evidence will therefore be important.
For example, if a customer slips on a spillage, questions could include when the spillage occurred, whether staff knew about it, whether it had been reported and whether reasonable steps were taken to remove it.
There is no automatic right to compensation simply because an accident happened inside a supermarket.
How long do you have to make a personal injury claim?
For most personal injury claims in England and Wales, court proceedings generally need to be started within three years of the accident, although there are exceptions and different rules can apply depending on the circumstances.
It is therefore sensible not to leave a potential claim until the end of the limitation period.
Getting advice early can also make it easier to preserve evidence such as CCTV, witness details and accident records.
What should you do if you have been injured in an Accrington supermarket?
If you have suffered an injury after slipping or tripping in a supermarket in Accrington, start by making a clear record of what happened.
Write down:
- The date and approximate time of the accident.
- The name and location of the supermarket.
- Exactly where you fell.
- What caused you to fall.
- Whether there was a warning sign.
- Whether you reported the accident.
- The names of any staff members involved.
- The details of anyone who witnessed the accident.
- Any injuries you suffered.
- Any financial losses that have resulted.
Keep photographs, receipts and other relevant documents somewhere safe.
If your injuries are significant, you may wish to speak to a solicitor who handles supermarket accident and personal injury claims. They can assess the evidence and explain whether there appears to be a basis for pursuing compensation.
Supermarket slip and trip claims in Accrington
A fall while doing the weekly shop can be more serious than it initially appears. Pain, time away from work, medical treatment and everyday difficulties can all follow from an accident that takes only a few seconds to happen.
If you believe a supermarket accident was caused by an unsafe condition that should reasonably have been identified or dealt with, preserving evidence is important.
Whether you were shopping at Tesco Extra on Eagle Street, ASDA on Hyndburn Road or another supermarket in the Accrington area, the same fundamental questions apply: what caused the accident, who was responsible for the hazard, and was reasonable care taken to keep shoppers safe? Current store information confirms the Accrington locations of Tesco Extra and ASDA.
A solicitor can consider the circumstances of your accident, the available evidence and the injuries or losses you have suffered before advising you about your options.