Work injury news
06/01/2012

Supermarket spies target grandma's personal life

A Manchester woman who filed a personal injury claim against the supermarket where she worked has described her shock on discovering private detectives were watching her every move.

In 2007 the 65-year-old fractured her spine after slipping on a broken egg at the Hulme store where she had worked as a bakery assistant for seven years.

She contacted personal injury lawyers when it became clear she could not return to work.

The grandmother-of-two said she was unaware she had been under surveillance until video footage of her home life was played in court.

"I felt sick when I saw the footage, it just left me numb," she told reporters at the Manchester Evening News last week.

"After seven years of service, it hurt anyway that they thought I was lying, but to be so underhand as to film me going around the shops and catching the bus, then store it away on file without telling me it existed just breaks my heart."

However she won her battle for injury compensation, in spite of the secret tapes.

Doctors at Manchester Royal Infirmary confirmed that her activities and lifestyle had been 'considerably curtailed' by the workplace accident, and she was later awarded £21,000 for her injuries and loss of earnings.

The woman's personal injury solicitor described her as ‘the innocent victim' of an accident at work, and said she had experienced nearly five years of unnecessary litigation.

"I find it disappointing that her employers did not settle this case immediately," she said afterward.

Her client has now announced her retirement from working life.

Since winning the personal injury claim, she continues to visit the store as a customer – but is no longer allowed to use her staff discount card.