Here is a summary of an interesting case in the national press recently involving a boy who received an eye injury in an accident at lunchtime on a school playground. The boy’s family successfully appealed against a court ruling that his school were not liable for his injury, even though they only had 1 member of staff supervising around 300 children on the playground. The boy had been playing with friends when he was hit in the eye by a rock thrown at a seagull by another pupil. At the first trial the judge had ruled that the school had had a sufficient number of staff supervising the pupils over lunch time and therefore they had not been liable for the accident.
The accident had happened during the school lunch break back in 2001, when the pupils of the school were segregated according to the year groups they were in. The victim, in year 9, was on a playground with other year 9 and year 10 pupils, whilst year 7 and year 8 pupils were on a separate playground. The playgrounds were supervised by staff members known as midday supervisors. However at the time of the accident only one supervisor was on duty on the year 7 and 8 playground which meant she had little time to check on the other playground, giving it only occasional glances.
In the original trial the judge had found that the school had not been negligent and that despite having only one member of staff on duty there had been adequate supervision of the pupils in years 7, 8, 9 and 10. Around 300 to 400 pupils had been on the field at the time of the accident and according to a guidance note produced at the trial; this was far too many for 1 supervisor to control. The suggested level of supervisors for children of secondary school age was between 1 supervisor for every 50 children and 1 supervisor for every 100 children.
At the trial the boys who had been involved in the stone throwing indicated that they knew that it was prohibited and that if there had been a supervisor near them they would not have thrown the stones, therefore the injury to the other boy’s eye would not have happened. In the appeal this was noted and was one of the reasons why the school was found to have been negligent, because it did not have enough staff on the playground to stop these kinds of activities.
Incidents like these can raise complicated issues of liability and negligence and any judgement will often be appealed. An experienced personal injury lawyer will be able to guide you through the complex process of assembling evidence and taking your case to court. Camps Solicitors are experienced in a wide range of personal injury compensation claims and will take the strain out of making a claim by handling the vast majority of the paperwork and negotiations in your claim, leaving you with only a few short forms to fill in.
For more information on how we can help you to make a No-Win No-Fee compensation claim for your injuries call 0800 092 8586 today.
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