Brain-damaged machine operator gets ‘£4.2m’ damages

Christopher Kaye, 57, from Barnsley, will receive a lump sum of £1.75m and additional payments of £135,000 a year for life.

His legal team said the damages are likely to reach £4.2m based on a life expectancy of 20 years.

Mr Kaye was working on a site in Sheffield for Euro Dismantling Services Ltd when he was seriously injured in October 2008.

He was changing the grapple attachment on an excavator when the connecting metal bar fixing the grapple to the boom sprang out, knocking him to the ground. He was taken to hospital where he underwent life-saving surgery, but was left with brain damage and needs round-the-clock care.

Lawyers argued that Mr Kaye had received inadequate training and that equipment that could have allowed him to carry out the job more safely was purchased after the accident.

It was also claimed that written instructions on changing the grapple were not provided until after Mr Kaye’s accident.

Euro Dismantling Services Ltd initially denied any responsibility but eventually accepted 90 per cent liability, lawyers said.

Mr Kaye’s wife, Sue Kaye, said: “It’s a massive relief for all of this to be finally over and for there to be funds to pay for the care. No amount of money will help Chris to fully recover or give me back my loving husband of 32 years, nor will my children ever have the same dad.”

Jill Greenfield, from law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse, said: “The money will allow Chris to have round-the-clock care and support in what are very difficult circumstances.”