Man awarded five-figure damages after 1.5 tonne forklift truck reversed and trapped his foot at fishcake factory

Karl White, 34, suffered multiple fractures to his right ankle, a fracture to his elbow and long-term psychological distress following the accident at Three Oceans Fish Company in Witty Street.

Mr White said he’d “never experienced pain like it”, adding that he still “won’t go anywhere near” a forklift.

The accident happened on November 26, 2019, when Mr White, who was working for Taylors Recycling Services, visited the site to collect recycling waste as he'd done every day for the previous six months.

However this time the forklift reversed towards him without warning and knocked him to the ground as he was fastening ratchet straps to pallets of cardboard which had been loaded onto his truck.

Mr White spent nine weeks on crutches after the accident, but went back to work after three months off, as he couldn’t to afford to miss any more work.

He eventually left last June due to his “anxiety” around forklifts. His personal injury compensation claim was handled by Hudgell Solicitors.

Mr White said: “I went to that site the same time every day with the same driver and we just had a routine, the same thing every day, but for some reason on this day he just didn’t look behind and took me over.

“I thought my foot had been run over at first, but when they reviewed CCTV it showed my ankle had got wedged between the ground and the bottom of the tonne-and-a-half forklift.

“When he reversed and knocked me down, my foot was got stuck under it and my ankle bent. He heard me scream and then went forward.

“Straight away I was shouting out in agony. I was just lying on the ground in the rain doing deep breathing. I haven’t experienced pain like that before. I heard my heel pop."

Mr White says his ankle still bothers him, especially when walking for any length of time. He added: "To this day, even if I’m in a supermarket car park and a car is reversing, I am well away from it."

Hudgell Solicitors said compensation was awarded after legal representatives of Three Oceans admitted they had been liable for the accident.

No one was available to comment at Three Oceans on Thursday afternoon.