Bus Accident- £10,250 recovered for 86 year old

Carina was an independent, healthy 86 year old who enjoyed her shopping trips up and down the Holloway Road (as well as foreign travel to Cyprus, the land of her birth).  She boarded a “bendy” bus when the bus lurched forward as it left the stop, throwing her to the floor. 

Unfortunately, as it is often the case with elderly people whose bones are more brittle, Carina’s accident led to a bad fracture of her leg, near her hip.  This required to be pinned with an internal nail when the operation to reduce her fracture was undertaken.  As a result of it, despite as good a recovery as might be expected for someone of such advanced years, Carina will remain reliant on one crutch for the rest of her life and will continue to require some help for dressing, bathing, housework, shopping and laundry.  Her age is such that the metalwork will have to remain in her leg. 

The bus company released the CCTV images of the accident, for which they denied any liability, contesting the claim that the bus driver had moved the bus off jerkily or that he had failed to ensure his passengers were safely positioned before doing so.   (One of the problems of the bendy bus is that the driver’s view of his passengers can be badly restricted, by the very length of the bus). 

There was really not much on the CCTV images to indicate fault of the driver, but by dint of perseverance, we persuaded the bus company to accept 50% liability for Carina’s injuries.  She had thought that she would end up with nothing and so was very pleased to be presented with a cheque for £10,250.  The bus company paid all her legal fees. 

It is noteworthy that if a defendant accepts part liability for an accident, it does not follow that they will only pay part of the costs!  Fixing a defendant with any part of the liability will normally result in full costs recovery of a skilfully run claim, as it did here.