supermarket accident claim

Supermarket Accident Claim: Compensation For Customer Injury Whilst Shopping

Our guide explores when and how you can claim compensation as a supermarket customer who suffers injury in an accident whilst shopping in store (such as wet floor slip accident) or whilst on the supermarket’s grounds (including defects with the car park).

In addition, we discuss injury from defective products purchased or consumed, supermarket worker claims for injury.

Furthermore, in our Q&A and FAQ – we set out real-life injury victim questions together with a link to our detailed response.

Table of Contents

What is a supermarket accident claim?

A supermarket owes a duty of care to keep customers (and supermarket workers) safe whilst on the supermarket premises – whether that be in the store or in the supermarket car park. Should you suffer injury as a result of supermarket negligence and/or breach of statutory duty you will be entitled to make a supermarket accident claim for compensation.

Typical types of supermarket accident

The most common types of accidents in supermarkets giving rise to claims, include:

Wet floors and spillages

Supermarket cleaning staff may mop a floor and leave a wet surface (without proper slippery surfaces warning cones) leaving a dangerous slipping hazard. Alternatively, other customers may leave a spillage on the floor that a supermarket fails to clean.

Falling objects

You may suffer injury as a result of an object falling from a shelf in the supermarket itself. This might be due to a failure of a shelf or improperly placed items.

Injury from supermarket workers

You might experience injury from employees working in the store. For example – supermarket staff causing injury to customers from careless use of work equipment.

Defective flooring

The flooring in the shop might be defective. For example – loose tiles, raised edges of flooring (presenting a tripping hazard) or temporary mats that can move when stepped on.

Supermarket petrol station accidents

The supermarket premises can extend beyond the main store. Many supermarkets have petrol stations on their premises. You may have an accident whilst filling your car up or in the supermarket petrol station shop.

Car park defects

The supermarket car park itself might have defects. For example – potholes, that can cause tripping accidents. Alternatively, there might be slippery oil spillages – presenting an unexpected slip danger.

Food poisoning

There are also other instances when a supermarket might have liability for customer injury which is not on the supermarket premises. For example – a food poisoning claim might exist when products are consumed at home after purchase.

Evidence You Should Retain To Support A Food Poisoning Claim

Should you suffer food poisoning from supermarket food – remember to retain your purchase receipt, the product packaging and any remaining product itself. This will prove vital evidence to support a claim against the supermarket.

Customer toilet accidents

Supermarkets will typically have toilets that customers can use. Many accidents can occur in the customer toilets. For example – slip accidents from leaking pipework.

Defective products

These days supermarkets not only provide food, but often other forms of products, such as electrical items. Should you suffer injury as a result of defect of a purchased item – you may have a claim from the supermarket or the manufacturer of the item.

Packaging And Instructions

Not only the product itself can cause injury, but also sometime the packaging may present a danger. Alternatively, the instructions of how to use a product may be erroneous – resulting in injury.

See our product liability article for more details about supermarket worker injury claims.

Can supermarket workers claim compensation for injury?

Supermarket workers can equally be injured in an accident in the course of their employment and as such may be entitled to claim compensation. How to claim for worker injury is dealt within our work accident claims articles.

What immediate steps should you take if you suffer injury in a supermarket?

Report your accident

It is important to report the matter immediately to supermarket staff – no matter how embarrassed you might feel. The supermarket will keep an accident book and will record the circumstances that surrounded your accident events.

Witness evidence

Your accident may have been witnessed by supermarket staff or other customers. Very often a fellow customer will be the first to assist.

Therefore, try to remember to make a note of any customer;s name and contact number as well as the names of members of staff who come to help. This may prove vital evidence at a later stage.

Supermarket May Record Witness Evidence In An Accident Book Entry

Generally an accident book entry will be made by the supermarket at the time of the event itself.

This might include some of the witness details.

However, should your accident events be disputed for whatever reason – independent witness evidence could prove invaluable.

Should you not have appreciated the extent of your injuries at the time of the accident (due to shock or embarrassment) and as a result no accident book entry have been made. We recommend you contact the supermarket as soon as possible and ensure a record is made.

This is quite a common occurrence – so don’t be embarrassed or timid.

Secure CCTV evidence

The supermarket will also examine the cause of the accident and this should be recorded. If there is any CCTV – this will often be viewed to verify how your accident occurred. CCTV will often be vital evidence to support your supermarket accident claim.

Eliminate danger to other customers

A supermarket will often take steps to eliminate the danger, so that other customers are not also injured in a similar manner. In this way avoid other potential claims being made against the supermarket. For example – a spillage can be coned off and cleaned.

supermarket accident medical assistance
Supermarket Accident Medical Assistance

Seek medical assistance

You should immediately attend at hospital or the GP (usually if your injury has just occurred you would attend at A & E at hospital) to have your injury diagnosed, recorded on your medical notes and treated.

If the injury is serious then the supermarket will call an ambulance to take you to hospital.

Your medical records

The records on your medical notes will later prove invaluable to winning your supermarket accident claim.

Medical notes are official records helping prove your injuries were caused as a result of the supermarket accident.

See our full article records to keep when making a personal injury claim.

How do you make a supermarket accident claim?

You have primarily two ways to make a supermarket accident claim:

Making a supermarket accident claim without a solicitor

Sometimes a supermarket insurer might seem to be friendly and cooperate in a claim. They may offer to pay you a sum of money for your injuries either as a goodwill gesture or in settlement of a claim.

If your injuries are very minor and you are fully recovered – you could consider this approach.

However, once you settle your supermarket accident claim in full and final settlement – your claim is over. You cannot later contact a solicitor to try to recover more compensation (should your injuries be worse than initially suspected).

Be Careful Of A Seemingly Helpful Supermarket Insurer

Often a seemingly helpful supermarket insurer is merely trying to pay you as small a sum as possible for your claim or run down the limitation clock.

Using a specialist solicitor

It is always best to use a specialist solicitor to help you claim compensation following a supermarket accident and this is even more so if your injuries are serious.

Remember that a supermarket insurer is in essence the other side and as such has no duty to:

  1. Gather all the evidence to support your claim.
  2. Offer you the correct sum of compensation.
  3. Explain to you all the types of compensation you might be entitled to (known as heads of loss).

No Win No Fee

You can limit your exposure to the legal costs in making a supermarket accident claim by using a no win no fee / conditional fee agreement.

How long do you have to make a claim?

You have only three years from the date of the accident to have a supermarket accident claim issued at court before it is too late to claim. After three years you will be what as known as statute barred.

However, there are a number of exceptions. For example – children involved in an accident have three years from the date of adulthood (date of majority) to issue a claim at court. In other words – a child injured in an accident in England and Wales has until their 21st birthday (three years from the age of 18) to make a claim.

Another such exception includes adults without mental capacity. In theory the time period to make your supermarket accident claim only commences when you have capacity.

We recommend you speak to a personal injury solicitor to determine how long you have to claim.

Claim as soon as possible

Many steps need to be taken before issue of proceedings at court. Therefore, the sooner you instruct a solicitor the better.

The other advantages of acting sooner are that your solicitor will explain the evidence you should keep to support your supermarket accident claim. This will undoubtedly give you the best chance to recover larger amounts of compensation.

In addition, critical evidence may still be obtainable early on if liability is disputed. For example – CCTV evidence may not have been deleted. In addition, witnesses (other customers) will have a better recollection of accident circumstances the closer to the supermarket accident event.

In short – a claim is easier for your solicitor to prove the closer in time you are to the accident events.

Accurate Witness Statements Win Claims

The closer in time (to the accident event) witness statements are prepared by your solicitor – the more accurate they are likely to be.

The more accurate your witness statment – the better the chance you have of succeeding with your supermarket accident claim,

How does your solicitor calculate the amount of compensation your claim is worth?

The amount of compensation a supermarket accident claim is worth depends on primarily two aspects:

The physical and psychological injuries you experience

You can claim compensation for pain, suffering and loss of amenity – known as general damages. Each type of injury you might suffer will have been decided by court cases in the past. See our compensation payout calculator to see all manner of injuries and the value of compensation you can recover for each.

The Independent Medico-Legal Expert Report

Your solicitor will instruct an independent medical expert to set out your injuries in what is known as a medico-legal report.

The expert will examine you and have access to your GP & hospital notes.

Your record of symptoms (which you can refer to during your examination) – will prove very valuable in ensuring the medical report is as accurate as can be.

In this way you will be able to ensure maximum accuracy and hence recover of preoper compensation in your supaermarket accident claim.

Your financial loss and expense

You are entitled to claim compensation for the expenses and financial loss you have incurred as a direct result of your supermarket accident. These not only include past losses, but also predicted future losses (ongoing losses into the future after your claim has settled).

The basis of your claim for losses and expenses (known as special damages) will primarily come from you. Both the records you keep and the receipts in support you retain. For example – lost salary, medical expenses (e.g. pain killers), care and assistance in the home, damaged clothing.

The list is long – see our calculating financial loss and expense in a personal injury claim article.

Deciding whether to make a supermarket accident claim?

We recommend that you speak to one of our specialist solicitors free of charge either direct by phone or online as to your best way forward and the options available to you when making a supermarket accident claim.

Q&A – Answers To Real Life Supermarket Accident Victim Questions

We are constantly responding to online and accident victims concerning supermarket accident claims.

Our latest supermarket accident claim Q&A articles are set out below (click on the heading to see teh full article):

Can I Claim For A Hip Injury From A Slip On A Wet Floor Whilst Shopping In A Supermarket?

Find out how a supermarket customer claims compensation fro serious injury following a slip on a mopped floor following an earlier customer spillage.

How Do I Claim For A Broken Foot When I Tripped On A Missing Paving Stone In A Supermarket Customer Car Park?

Car parks should be kept safe. In this Q&A we explain how to claim compensation if you suffer injury due to a supermarket car park defect.

FAQ

FREE HELP – Specialist Solicitors

We offer free initial specialist solicitor online / telephone help. You can not only discuss your potential supermarket accident claim in person, but also ask any specific legal questions that you might have.

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