Injured couple try to deal directly with insurer but are ignored

Shopping centre

Mrs Taylor was shopping with her husband for a piece of jewellery to celebrate their Golden Wedding anniversary when they slipped on the tiled walkway leading into the shopping centre.

“It looked like someone had taken buckets of water to the floor, there wasn’t any part of the floor that was dry. There was no handrails so I held onto my husband and we tried to be very careful as we made our way along but I slipped and fell.

“I knew something bad had happened as I was in terrible pain, I thought I was going to faint. I kept going in and out of consciousness.”

Mrs Taylor had  fractured her leg and badly bruised her elbow.

“We had booked a holiday to celebrate our Golden Wedding anniversary but it was ruined because of my injuries from the accident. It was also my 70th birthday a few months after but I wasn’t able to enjoy that either because of the pain I was still in."

Mrs Taylor contacted the shopping centre and they sent flowers and advised someone from their legal team would be in touch to discuss her claim. However, she never heard anything back so after 10 weeks, she sent another letter but again, heard nothing from them.

“I was so angry with the way they had treated me, they didn’t seem to care at all. I didn’t know what to do but I was determined to do something. My cousin suggested getting in touch with Digby Brown.”

Joanne McLaren from our Glasgow office dealt with Mrs Taylors claim.

“It was such a relief, it had been so stressful and traumatic and Joanne took it all off my shoulders. Her patience was amazing.

“Anything I wanted to know I was always given an answer, I wasn’t worried at all because I knew that Joanne was dealing with it. It felt good to have someone on my side.”

Joanne got in touch with the shopping centre and they admitted liability for the accident. She instructed reports from medical experts which were sent on to the insurers for the shopping centre. Shortly after an offer was made for £8,000.

“I didn’t know what to expect and it was beyond my expectations. The amount that Joanne had managed to get was amazing.

“Everything was fabulous, I’d tell anyone that was in a similar situation to me not to waste time and just go straight to Digby Brown.”