Passenger develops post-traumatic stress disorder
A woman has received more than £500,000 in damages after developing post-traumatic stress disorder after she became trapped with an injury on a bus in Wimbledon.
Ceri Leigh, aged 50, was an exhibitions manager at the Natural History Museum when she dislocated her right kneecap after boarding the bus at Wimbledon station.
She told the High Court in London that she couldn't sit or stand and was screaming in agony for 50 minutes.
The London Ambulance Service NHS Trust have admitted there was a negligent delay of 17 minutes in the ambulance arriving, but they disputed the link that it caused her psychiatric problems and the amount of damages.
The court heard that she had to leave her job after not recovering full function in the knee for about 18 months. She became housebound, suffering flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, depression and seizures.
Lawyers for the ambulance service argued that she had other family and financial pressures. The judge said he accepted that her injuries were severe and all aspects of her life were badly affected and additional therapy would only make a minimal improvement.
Leigh, who was medically retired from her job in February 2011, was awarded £522,379 in damages.
February 20, 2014