Injury news

Men contact personal injury solicitors following farmer's attack

Two men who have received thousands of pounds compensation after a farmer deliberately drove his digger into their vehicle thinking they were poachers.

Milton Ferguson, 31, and John Henderson, 21, contacted personal injury solicitors after they suffered serious personal injuries during an attack on their vehicle in September 2003.

Mr Ferguson, a game keeper, said he sustained a minor back injury when farmer James Forrester, 65, of Aldie, Aberdeenshire, drover his agricultural digger into his Land Rover.

Peterhead Sheriff Court heard how Mr Forrester blocked off all exits in the field and waited for ten minutes until he could see the Land Rover heading towards his direction.

The farmer then turned on the lights to his digger and careered straight into the path of the Land Rover.

Mr Ferguson said, "There was hardly any time to think, it all happened so quickly. It was dark and the road was blocked with a digger. I thought they were just shifting cattle but when I dipped my headlights, he came at us with his lights on.

"I was expecting to get out and have a chat, not to be met with a full force by an agricultural digger. About the fourth time he hit us, I thought, I've got to get out of here."

His passenger, Mr Henderson, was forced to take time off work and received physiotherapy for his personal injuries sustained in the attack.

The two men contacted personal injury solicitors and made a compensation claim for their personal injuries and were awarded an undisclosed sum in an out-of-court settlement.

Mr Forrester said, "I'm not sorry for what happened. It happened to me on my land on a private road."