HGV driver loses sight in left eye after horrific work related injury

A young man's dream of one day owning his own haulage company has been ruined by the failure of his employer to repair a reported fault on his lorry.

Edward's job involved loading large industrial waste containers onto the back of his HGV. In February 2003, the nut and bolt used to secure the containers in place sprung back and hit him in the face just missing his eye. Edward reported this near miss to his employer and assumed it would be fixed to prevent anything like that happening again. Little did he know, his employer had not fixed the problem and he became the victim for a second time, unfortunately this time the bolt flew into his left eye.

Edward endured a total of 3 operations to try and save his sight and relieve the terrible pain he was suffering. Unfortunately, Edward now has no useful sight in his left eye despite receiving excellent medical treatment. He is also in pain on a daily basis and relies on his sister to help him with daily tasks. He also lives with the daily fear of "sympathetic ophthalmia", a condition which can cause blindness in his good eye at any time.

Not only has Edward lost the sight in his eye, he has lost sight of his future. Edward has spent his life working towards a career as a HGV driver, it was his childhood dream and he was proud to have been trusted with the care of a vehicle worth thousands of pounds. He loved his job and he wanted to keep getting better at it. Since his injury, Edward finds it hard to even leave the house, let alone get back to work. He feels unable to return to his previous employer as he is too angry about what has happened to him.

Edward says that one of the hardest things is that people tell him that he looks alright but he just wants people to appreciate and understand the severity of what has happened to him. He may not appear badly injured but he is.

Thanks to Edward approaching Bond Pearce and their accident at work team, he has secured an out of Court settlement of over £340,000.00. Whilst money can't restore his sight, it can help him to rebuild his life.

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