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• A truck driver weighing over 150kg (nearly 24 stone) has failed to prove that two firms were at fault when he fell from his truck. Philip Wheeler broke his right leg in the fall and was off work for six months.
He told London's High Court that he now walks with a limp, is unable to bend his knee fully, is in pain in cold weather, and has lost much pleasure from fishing and gardening. He blamed his employer, Mobo Transport of Upton Lane, Southampton, and the firm where he was loading, Mitcham Cardboards of Beddington lane, Croydon, Surrey.
Deputy Judge S T Bate q QC has ruled in the High Court that neither firm was responsible for the accident, which happened on 7 December 1982 when Wheeler, of Lynn Road, Poole, Dorset was collecting a load from Mitcham Cardboards. He slipped while climbing down from his container lorry, which was wet with rainwater, and landed on the concrete floor. Mob o Transport allegedly failed to provide a handrail or step ladder or suitable access for loading the container, and Wheeler accused Mitcham Cardboards of causing him to climb down unaided.
His employer said he was either entirely or partly to blame for his injuries. Mob o alleged that he had attempted to jump from the container, despite the fact tlu he risked injury because of hi weight, and Mitcham Cardboards accused him of jumpin from the lorry when it was rx necessary for him to do so.
Bates ruled that no blame could be attached to either fir because Wheeler was descent ing from the lorry in the safes way he knew. The two firms, were awarded costs..