A deep sea divers, which miraculously returned to work on the seabed 18 months after losing a leg when he was crushed by a huge water hammer, he won the £ 915,000 compensation payment.
55 -year -old veteran divers Alan Peacock suffered disastrous injuries when they were crushed by heavy equipment, while working under water India in 2011.
A heavy pile – acting like a “hammer” to nail the other into the seabed – unexpectedly moved, sucking it between two pieces of the device and crushing his leg.
Mr. Mor was able to remove and pull himself and was further treated in India Nuclear After flying from home, but one ended after a bottom dissection.
But despite this, with efforts described by a surgeon as “quite extraordinary”, he was working under water within 18 months with the help of a special artificial leg.
And now, after sue High courtMr. Peacock has been awarded £ 765,866 in compensation by his former employer, Indian company Dell Seatake India Private Limited, who was already receiving about 169,000 pounds from the operator on which he was working on.
The court qualified Mr. Peacock in 1998 and was acting as a saturation diver for Dale Sea, when he was injured in November 2011 while working with a cargo barge in the operation of pipe laying in India’s leaflet region.
His barrister, Mark Chapman KC, said the situation was difficult, with only one meter and poor visibility of a strong tide when he used to descend under water in a dive basket to work at a depth of up to 30 meters.
Their function was to disconnect the two chains, which were together holding the vertical piles, the top of one, running the other with the top in the seabed and “acting like a hammer on a nail.”
As soon as he started working, the top pile participated from another and started rolling due to the barge tide, which also shifted the piles, the barrister continued.
“They participated because they were insecure,” he said. “In chains, they were very dull holding them together.
“The right leg of the claimant was run in the middle of the lower stack, before the top stack fell back over the bottom stack and in doing so, crushed the claimed’s leg.
“The claimant’s leg was stuck for a few seconds, before the stacks left again and the contenders were able to remove the leg.
“The claimant separated his umbilical cord and pulled himself back into the basket after Hopped and informing himself to the supervisor who dives himself Accident,
“The basket was removed to the surface and so the claimant had to wait for his return.”
Before transferring to the Royal Victoria Information in Newcastle, he was initially treated in India, where he had to dissect under his below and lower due to lack of blood flow to the foot.
Mr. Chapman said that the limit of his injury was “manifested” to him and he was told without warning that a dissection was needed, leaving him “very shocking and quite emotional”.
“After the accident, the claimant was absent from all/any work for a period of about 18 months,” he continued.
“However, he is a strict, resourceful and determined person. He was firm in his ambition to return to his pre-accidental work, independently researched the regulatory status applied to amputees and commercial. Diving Operation.
“The claimant has managed to return to work in an area that is very demanding with the use of prostheses provided by NHS.”
In his written evidence before the court, Mr. Peacock himself described the problems faced in returning to work after the accident.
He said, “One of the things raised was what would happen if my prosthetic foot comes in the water,” he said.
“To deal with this issue, I came with the idea of climbing my artificial legs attached to my artificial legs.
“It was approved by health and safety and now it is something that I use at work all the time.”
Although he is now slow in water, he continues to work as a diver, but there is more disabled in later life, the court heard.
“I fully know that it is likely that I will be a wheelchair-bound in a short step of my life and scare me to be honest,” he said.
“I try not to think too much about it and focus on keeping myself fit and healthy. I see what I eat, I exercise and I try to keep myself in the best possible shape.”
Addressing the judge, Mr. Chapman described Mr. Peacock as a “influential” man, because he can no longer run, raised kayaking and still has a mountain biker.
Mr. Peacock initially sued its former employer Dale Sea Seak and Barj operator, South Korean company Hyundai Heavy Industries Company Limited.
His lawyers claimed that the task was “with dangerously strong tides and poor visibility” and that hemorrhoids “were not adequately safe together.”
Hyundai resolved his claim with a payment of £ 169,000, but Mr. Chapman said that Dell Sea Sea had “taken zero interest in the case since 2016 and did not participate since 2016,” the judge was left only to fix the amount in the loss, which are due to them.
After a half -day hearing in the High Court, the verdict on the case, Deputy Admit Registrar Simon Brown awarded the loss of £ 915,871, which was reduced by the earlier amount received from Hyundai.
The amount includes a prize of £ 150,000 for lost earnings and a prosthetic award for prostheses and equipment, as well as small amounts to cover the additional cost of first -class seats to work back and forth and to mark care received from his wife Samantha Vincent.
Speaking later, Simon O’lughalin, Solicitor of Shri Peacock of Irwin Mitchell, said: “What Alan did was very painful, but he is shown such bravery and flexibility, where he is today. To see him that he is working as a professional diver after a serious injury, he is not really an induction, he is not really an induction.
“There is a privilege to know this and I hope that the disposal can help him fund any future treatment and support along with shutting down something, which he needs and needs.”
Mr. Peacock said: “Not for a minute, did I ever expect that I love what happened to me. However I knew that my only option was to sit back and my injury was to define me or take back my life – I later chosen and I am happy that I did.
“It took me some time to regain my confidence in water, but I am proud of how far I have come. I have also got amazing support for which I am very grateful.
“I wouldn’t like what I am doing on anyone, but I hope I can show that there is life after such a serious injury.”