Disabled mother forced to sell home to pay compensation after mobility scooter injures supermarket worker's knee

Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:39 AM on 06th April 2010

A disabled mother whose mobility scooter injured the knee of a supermarket worker has been forced to sell her house after she was sued for damages.

Gloria Brown, 61, has been ordered to pay nearly $6,000 in damages and $10,000 in court costs after the scooter collided with the woman who was stacking shelves.

But Mrs Brown, who lives with her husband, Norman, 73, and daughter Susan, 42, said she hasn't got the money, so has been forced to put the family home on the market.

Mrs Brown, from Rhyl, North Wales, said: 'How else could I find the cash? It wasn't even my fault, I was hit from behind by another mobility scooter and there was a shunt.

'I'd gone to the milk counter when someone hit me. Then I ran into a flatbed trolley which hit the assistant's leg.

'I was badly shaken and couldn't go on with my shopping because the scooter was so badly damaged. I paid for my goods then reported the accident to customer services and asked if she was OK.'

Denise Bird, 42, who had been stacking shelves at the milk counter, injured her knee in the incident at the Morrisons supermarket in Rhyl, in December 2005.

Miss Bird asked her union to sue and the costs under the 'no win no fee' basis came to $7,169 - far more than the compensation.

Mrs Brown filed a counter claim that the accident was caused by a shunt after a woman on one of Morrison's own mobility scooters had bumped into her. But it was rejected and solicitors acting for the supermarket were awarded costs of $2,960.

Mrs Brown now has to pay costs totalling $10,129 - in addition to £5,628 in damages for negligence.

Miss Bird had alleged that Mrs Brown's scooter was being driven too fast and that she had failed to keep a proper lookout while moving it.

But Mrs Brown said that was not the case and that she would have called an eye-witness to back up her claim, but believed he had died.

Witness Kenneth Rigby, 76, of Rhyl, said: 'I definitely saw another scooter hit this woman, whom I know by sight, and she was sent forward.

'The accident wasn't her fault and it's wrong she has to pay all this money. I'd have gone along to the court case had I been asked.' 

Miss Bird is now working in the petrol station at Morrisons.

Her mother Valerie, 62, said: 'Denise is entitled to something because she was off work for several weeks and still has a problem with her leg.

'She didn't feel safe working on the shop floor any more and so moved to the petrol station.'

Mrs Bird said she hadn't known that Mrs Brown was selling her home to find the cash.

She said: 'No one likes to hear that someone is losing their home. Perhaps it would have been better if she could have paid in weekly installments.'

Mrs Brown's support worker Geraldine Griffiths, 62, said : 'In my opinion there has been a miscarriage of justice. People are very angry that a disabled woman should lose her home because of an accident we say wasn't her fault. Gloria has been terribly depressed.

'The other parties at the hearing in January had barristers but Gloria couldn't afford a solicitor.'

Morrisons denied during the case that there was a shunt, or that one of their own mobility scooters was involved, and this was upheld. 

There will be another hearing at Rhyl County Court next month to discuss Mrs Brown's bill.

A spokeswoman for the company said : 'As the legal process is ongoing, it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further at this time.' 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1263925/Disabled-mother-forced-sell-home-pay-compensation-mobility-scooter-injures-knee-supermarket-worker.html