£2,300 compensation awarded to child for burn injury

The County Court in Slough approved a settlement of a claim following an accident involving a 9-year-old boy.

See also:

Child injury compensation claims

Personal injury solicitors in Slough

Circumstances

A 9 year old boy was left scarred as a result of an accident at his local sports centre. The claimant suffered burns in the cafeteria when he leaned against a stainless steel fryer unit. The burn which extended from his elbow to his wrist was initially dealt with by first aiders at the sports centre who used ice to cool the burn down. Later the claimant was examined by his GP by which stage the burn had started to blister.

The claimant's GP treated the burn using Flamazine cream. The severity of the burn meant that the dressing had to be changed on six occasions requiring the claimant to go back to his GP surgery and it was over three weeks before the burn started to heal properly. For the purposes of a personal injury claim the boy was seen by a consultant five months later. The consultant was a specialist in personal injury cases. The burn had left a scar which was 10 cm long and 1 mm wide. The scar would become more prominent when the claimant was in a warm room such that it made him extremely conscious of his appearance and the scar.

Before the accident the claimant was extremely active participating in many sports including football and cricket. As a result of the accident the claimant was unable to participate in sport for some four weeks. In that four week period the claimant had a pre-booked holiday with his family during the course of which he would ordinarily swim and participate in other sporting activities. As a result the holiday was spoiled.

The expert's report suggested that the visibility of the scar would diminish over a period of 16-19 months from the date of the accident but also suggested that the claimant could suffer an area of altered pigmentation for up to two years.

General damages of £2,300.00 were awarded.