Driver, now paralysed, partly to blame
Page 27
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A 29-year-old lorry driver whose marriage had failed since an accident paralysed him from the waist down, was awarded about £26,000 damages against his former employers last week.
Mr David Waters, of Cannon's Walk,, Thetford, Norfolk, was awarded £22,671, with interest payable on the sum, against E. Fogerty and Co, of Minstergate, Thetford.
The settlement came at the end of a three-day hearing in the High Court at Norwich.
Mr Justice Griffiths assessed the total damages at £30,228 but found Mr Waters 25 per cent to blame for the accident.
The judge said: "Unhappily, the marriage has not been able to withstand the impact of this catastrophe."
The judge said he had been impressed by Mr Waters as a witness but in trying to load a container on his lorry he was "foolish" to use the lorry tail-hoist without the safety flap in position.
That was why the damages were reduced.