Trying to grab a bargain in the end-of-season summer sales may take you to a retail park, and it was at one of these where our client was injured.

Our client was crossing the retail car park when a van driver, driving past her, hit her on the shoulder with his wing mirror, causing her injuries.

The insurance company tried to argue that our client, as a pedestrian, should be responsible for the accident. We couldn’t see how that was right and the case went to Court.

Having heard all the evidence, the Judge decided that the van driver had failed to notice our client’s position and failed to anticipate that she might need to alter her path and move out from walking in a straight line. He concluded that the driver had breached his duty of care to our client by failing to give her a sufficiently wide berth.

Jo Kneller, who acted for our client, said: “Vehicles can be dangerous weapons and the standard of care expected of drivers is therefore understandably high. This decision shows that a cavalier attitude to the safety of pedestrians is likely to be looked at critically by a Court, and that drivers should always take extra care on the roads."