Blind man injures right eye at Edinburgh Leisure Centre

Personal injury solicitors in Edinburgh secured £26,000 in compensation for a blind man after his injuries resulted in him losing his right eye when visiting his local Edinburgh Leisure Centre.

How did the accident at Edinburgh Leisure happen?

Our client had been using the gym with his wife and before going for a swim, he went to use the disabled toilet. However, his right eye was struck by the protruding toilet roll holder on the disabled assistance arm.

Edinburgh Leisure, the operators of the leisure centre, had failed to fit the specified rounded toilet rail and had instead fitted a triangular protruding toilet roll holder.

After the accident was investigated by the Health & Safety Executive, Edinburgh Leisure removed the triangular toilet roll holder and added padding to the end of the toilet roll holder.

What was the impact of the injuries?

After undergoing multiple operations to attempt to repair his right eye, our client continued to suffer from tremendous headaches and was later fitted with an artificial eye.

“You try to cope as best you can but I was sleeping in the afternoon after it happened. But you have to shake yourself off and get on with it. Life goes on although it can be pretty hard at times."

Our client has suffered from anxiety, loss of confidence and panic attacks. This impacted on their holiday and they had to return home a week early from their holiday in Cyprus.

Even now, he continues to suffer pain around his artificial eye and frequently removes it in order to attempt to alleviate the pain.

What did Digby Brown do to help?

Digby Brown’s personal injury solicitors in Edinburgh came to visit him to discuss his accident and explain the process of making a claim.

“I could tell they were very concerned. We proceeded with making a claim on a no win no fee basis. I understood that you don’t get anything for free and was happy with the fee. It was wrong for Edinburgh Leisure to leave that there to strike anyone, never mind a blind man.”

Personal injury solicitor Laura Wilson went to visit Edinburgh Leisure and took photographs of the toilet roll holder for evidence and arranged counselling for our client to help deal with the accident.

“The service from Digby Brown was excellent. Laura was a very caring person and kept in touch all the time. The counselling really helped as these things do affect you. Digby Brown really went that extra mile. Very good indeed”

How did Digby Brown secure maximum compensation?

In these types of accidents where someone loses an eye, about 80-90% of the compensation awarded is because of the loss of sight.

As our client had already lost his sight, this made the personal injury case more complicated, and potentially the compensation much lower.

Expert medical evidence

However, by instructing top medical experts to provide reports on his physical and psychological injuries, we were able to secure maximum compensation of £26,000.

“I knew it was not a straightforward case so expected it to last some time. I was quite surprised that they admitted liability so quickly and compensation was awarded.”

Edinburgh Leisure insurers admitted liability as a result our determination in pursuing the case and convincing them of their responsibilities to take reasonable care for users of their facilities, particularly disabled and vulnerable users where they are in an environment which should be specially designed to protect them.