Van driver wins compensation
It has been revealed that a man has won €25,000 in compensation claim damages, after he took his case to the High court.
The worker filed a no win no fee battle against his former employers as a result of post traumatic stress disorder and depression he suffered following a tiger kidnapping.
The President of the High Court Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, ruled that the victim was entitled to damages as a result of his crew being asked to hand more than €1m to a work colleague whose wife had been taken hostage in Carlow in January 2007, while making a delivery to an ATM at a service station.
A nightmare turns into reality,
The robbery took place around the morning, while the van the victim was driving was making a delivery to an ATM at a petrol station.
He was approached by a work colleague, who asked them to cooperate with the gang to ensure his wife’s safety. The colleague’s wife had been kidnapped from the couple’s home the previous night.
The victim, aged 62, who resides at Greenhills, Dublin 12, sued the security service group for damages as a result of his crew being asked to hand over more than €1m to the work colleague, whose wife was the victim of a Tiger kidnapping in Carlow in January 2007.
He claimed that he suffered psychiatric injuries following the robbery of a security van at a service station in Carlow on January 17, 2007.
He further alleged that his then bosses failed to provide him with a safe working environment, a safe system of work, a safe place to work, and had no regard for his health and safety while he was carrying out his duty.
He claimed that he was exposed to unnecessary risk of personal injury and psychological injury, and had not received adequate training. The defendants had denied the claims.
The ruling
The Judge said that the firm’s care to protect the worker was inadequate because of the regularity of the deliveries it made to Carlow.
Such deliveries, he said, were the first stop on Monday mornings after using the same route from Dublin. There should have been variations made in order to help deter criminals.
The Judge noted that this was in contrast to the fact that at the same time the company, in light of a Tiger style kidnapping of one its employees in 2005, had been advising its workers to find a different route to travel to work, because of the dangers.
However in his judgment the Judge said that the criticisms made of the business’s training and steps it took to improve the security of its workers were “very much wide of the mark.” Therefore, he awarded the worker with compensation.
The money was taken from the van and placed in a car, which was driven from the scene. More than €1m was obtained by the gang. At the time the van was carrying €2.5m.
Updated on 03/02/2010