£34,000 for bartender who was injured at work while carrying beer keg

Kieran suffered an agonising ankle injury while working at Hillhead Bookclub in the west end of Glasgow.

The 23-year-old was tasked with carrying a delivery of beer kegs - each weighing around 70kg - down to the cellar.

But during the task Kieran – who had no issue carrying heavy weights due to his hobby of powerlifting – stumbled and fell down the staircase. 

He said: “I’d already carried about five or six of the kegs and was going down with the next one when I caught my foot on a metal lip at the edge of one of the steps.

“When I fell my chest landed on the keg and my ankle felt painful. I knew there was damage caused by the level of pain.”

Kieran was allowed to go home unsupervised after he had got his breath back. That evening, the pain became so unbearable he got an Uber to A&E at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

But after checking Kieran over medics discharged him with painkillers leaving him to Uber his way back home.

He said: “The months after the fall were agonising – I knew something was wrong but couldn’t seem to get the solution I needed.

“It was affecting me mentally too as I could no longer live my version of a normal life or do my hobbies or anything physical.

“I was very active before the accident - going to the gym five times a week and running twice a week - but I just felt like a shadow of my past self.

“I was off work for a while and also some of my university exams had to be pushed back which just worsened the trauma of it all.”

After a few months of continued suffering from pain and mobility issues Kieran spoke to his GP and was referred for an MRI on his ankle at Ross Hall Hospital.

This is when specialists realised Kieran had serious ligament damage and needed surgical treatment and ongoing physiotherapy to help him heal.

Recalling his recovery, Kieran said: “After the surgery I was in bed for almost a month.

“I live in an upper floor flat so once I was up, I couldn’t come back down – that was really difficult.

“My girlfriend and flatmates did everything they could to look after me but I felt like I was burdening them.”

After a friend recommended Digby Brown, Kieran met with Sam Boyce, Associate in our Glasgow office, to make an accident at work claim.

Sam investigated the circumstances of the workplace accident, gathered CCTV from the pub that showed the fall and secured the medical evidence to illustrate the effects the whole affair had on Kieran’s life.

Pub bosses denied fault and disputed his version of events - they argued that carrying the kegs was a two-man task that shouldn’t be undertaken alone and that Kieran failed to follow his training and his former boss’ instructions.

With the right evidence, Sam was able to demonstrate that inadequate manual handling training had been provided to employees like Kieran.

He also gathered witness statements from colleagues which proved no instructions were given to Kieran to wait for help with the task as it was normal for Kieran to complete the task alone.

When the pub's insurance company advised they had no offers to make, Sam raised a court case in the All Scotland Personal Injury Court to ensure fair compensation was secured.

Despite their arguments, an offer of £7,500 was made to settle the claim but - based on the evidence - Sam knew this offer was too low.

One month before the court hearing was due to begin the pub's insurers reached out with additional offers.

Finally, an offer of £34,000 was accepted - FOUR TIMES more than the initial offer.

Kieran concluded: “I was worried about making a claim at first in case it impacted other people’s jobs but I wanted to make sure this kind of thing didn’t happen to anyone else so I’m glad I got in touch.

“Sam couldn’t have done any better for me - he explained everything in layman’s terms and made me feel comfortable.

“I’m ecstatic with the outcome and despite not feeling like the same person I was before the accident, I’m definitely coming out the other side of it now and finding my way back to the old me.”