motor accident

[red poppy]

My husband was returning from market rasen during thusdays storms when a 75mph gust hit the right hand side of his lorry tipping it over down into a ditch upside down he broke a leg severe bruising to arms back hands etc also cuts and whiplash this was during his working day in his firms vehicle.He is due to see his employer on monday he is worried about his pay as we have 3 children under 16,should he be entitled to full pay and compensation or just sick pay.

[Mrs_Pegasus]

Is there any reason he wouldnt be entitled to sick pay?

Has your husband been signed off work? If so, then he shouldnt be called into work for a meeting. His employer should be coming to see him at home or hospital.

If he is worried about the meeting then tell him to have someone with him, even better if he is in a union ask for a union rep to be present.

Depending on his length of service with the company he should be entitled to full sick pay. As far as compensation goes, I would wait to see if your husband is able to return to work when he is well again. If he is no longer able to do the job he was employed to do then he may wish to look at compensation.

[Buenchico]

There are two types of sick pay. Your husband will definitely be entitled to statutory sick pay. Unfortunately, this is just �70.05 per week. It's paid from the 4th day off work onwards.

The other type of sick pay is contractual sick pay. As the name implies, this is only available when the company operates its own scheme and this forms part of the employee's contract. Where such schemes exist, the rules vary from one scheme to another so, even if your husband's firm have such a scheme, it's impossible to say how much pay he'll receive (or for how long he'll receive it for). If the company don't have such a scheme (and many transport operators don't) your husband will only receive statutory sick pay.

Employers are only required to pay compensation, in respect of accidents to their employees, when the accident was the result of negligence by the employer. This obviously doesn't apply in this case.

So it seems possible that the only pay your husband will receive, throughout his convalescence, will be �70.05 per week. However, it's likely that your family will then become eligible to receive one or more state benefits to increase your total income. This is a complex area and you should contact either your local Citizens' Advice Bureau or your nearest JobCentre Plus, to seek advice, as soon as possible.

Chris

[red poppy]

Yes but if high winds were forecast then surely his employer should have told him not to drive because it was open fields on both sides of the road which in my case is a accident waiting to happen why should he be penalised he has a family to support and 70.05pw is not enough to feed 5 people on unless its me it all seems madness to me.

[Buenchico]

Under the health & safety laws, employees have to accept a certain amount of responsibility for their own safety. (It can be a criminal offence to endanger your own safety).

It's extremely unlikely that a claim for negligence against the company would succeed, unless (for example) your husband had phoned in to the company to say that he'd had to stop because of he high winds and the company insisted that he must continue. (Even then, he would be held partly to blame for the accident. The golden rule is 'If it isn't safe, don't do it'). In theory, the firm could sue your husband for the cost of the damage to the lorry. (i.e. the legal argument could be that your husband risked damage to the company's property when he should have known that it was unsafe to continue driving).

Even if your husband could bring a successful claim for compensation against the company (which, as I've indicated, is extremely unlikely), it would probably be 2 or 3 years (at the least) before he received any compensation.

�70.05 per week should be enough to feed 5 people for a week. (It's perfectly possible to live on under a tenner per week, per person, for food. I've been doing it for the past few months!) However, I fully accept that there are many other household expenses to be met. The government also recognise this, which is why there are benefits available to assist you. Once again, I strongly recommend that you contact your local CAB, or JobCentre Plus, as soon as possible.

Chris

[red poppy]

We went to see his manager today and he has confirmed to us that he will recieve full pay until he returns to work .We both feel agrieved still that no driver can claim against the company as it is deemed an act of god but every time we have bad weather in the future do all drivers have the right to refuse leaving their depots in fear of accidents that they would not be covered for or even their lives.And as for you chris try living on �70.05 a week with a wife and 3 children you must be joking do you live on soup or are you living in the dark ages.

[Buenchico]

I'm glad to hear that your husband will be receiving full pay.

If any employee ever believes that he will be putting his health or his safety at risk by following his employer's instructions, he not only has the right to refuse to do so, he must refuse to follow the instructions or he will be breaking the law himself.

As far as living on a budget goes, I'm currently experiencing a 'financial crisis' and counting every penny. I still manage to eat well. For example, I enjoyed my chili con carne this evening: mince (24p), chopped tomatoes (8p), chilli powder (3p?), Oxo granules (3p?), rice (6p). i.e. about 44p for a meal. At lunchtime I cooked a tasty Italian dish, with pasta, for about the same price. With a few basic cooking skills, it's easy to live on a tenner a week for food.

Chris

[red poppy]

Today a solicitor has taken our case on with the reason of negligence by his employer who allowed high sided vehicles take to the road with a severe weather warning in place they must have known that when empty these lorrys were liable to be just like paper bags when hit in cross winds.They feel the company is liable of this.