A teenage supermarket worker who had her compensation payout decreased by a judge who said she was partly to blame when she was crushed by a double-decker bus has had the decision reversed.
In April 2009, the compensation awarded to Chantelle Osei-Antwi, of Derby Hill, Forest Hill, had been reduced by a third at the Mayor and City of London County Court.
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The judge in the original case ruled that she should have paid more attention to the danger posted by the bus as it turned a corner at Crystal Palace Parade before the accident on 15 June, 2005.
Miss Osei-Antwi was on her way to work at Morrison’s supermarket in Crystal Palace when the incident occured. She was standing on a pedestrian part of the pavement.
She suffered several personal injuries as a result of being hit by the bus, and was forced to undergo surgery on her left ankle.
Lady Justice Hallett, sitting with Lord Justice Ward and Lord Justice Hughes at London’s Civil Court of Appeal, ruled that the original judge got it wrong and Miss Osei-Antwi, 22, was not guilty of “contributory negligence”.
The judge said: “She was standing on the pavement area designated for pedestrians, still several inches back from the edge of the road.”
She added that while the front of the bus passed by the victim by several feet, she was hit by the back end as it came round the corner.
She said: “Had the bus driver got the angle right, there would not have been a problem. The driver got the angle wrong.”
Miss Osei-Antwi, who now works in a mobile phone shop as a sales assistant, had been awarded approx. £12,000 in compensation in the original claim against South East London and Kent Bus Company.
Due to the ruling made by the Appeal Court, the amount of damages has been increased to over £18,000.