£44,000 Award for Supermarket Trolley Fall

A pensioner who was seriously injured when she fell over a flatbed trolley in a supermarket has been awarded £44,000 in compensation by the Court of Appeal.

Jean Palfrey, 79, tripped over the L-shaped trolley while shopping in the Morrisons supermarket in Tavistock. She was reaching for a bag of pork pies and did not see that the trolley, which was being used to replenish stocks, had been left unattended in the centre of the aisle while the shelf stacker went to the aid of another customer.

Mrs Palfrey tried to protect herself as she fell but she suffered serious injuries to her arms and shoulders. She had to remain in hospital for three months and it was more than two years before she was able to carry out normal everyday activities. Four years after the accident she still has to take painkillers and has been left with one arm shorter than the other.

She brought a claim for compensation and the case ended up in the Court of Appeal. The Court decided that the supermarket was 80 per cent liable for Mrs Palfrey’s accident. In reaching this decision, Lord Justice Moses expressed the view that flatbed trolleys, which are used in many supermarkets, pose a foreseeable risk of serious injury to customers because the focus of a shopper’s attention is on the goods displayed on the shelves, not on things at ground level.