Northampton window cleaners suing company after 40ft fall from cherry picker left one with serious leg injuries and the other mentally scarred

Two Northampton brothers have launched High Court claims for more than £200,000 compensation following a horrific accident in which one of them fell 40ft from a ‘cherry picker’ after it malfunctioned while he was working as a window cleaner.

Christopher Clayson, 35, suffered serious leg injuries in the fall and is seeking compensation for this. His brother, Michael, 31, who was working with him and who witnessed the fall is seeking compensation for the psychiatric problems he suffered after witnessing the accident.

Both men were working as window cleaners for Support Maintenance Services Ltd of Bletchley (who trade as SMS Window Cleaners), at the Garrard Windows factory in Leighton Buzzard when the accident happened on June 27 2019, according to a writ issued in London’s High Court and recently made publicly available.

They were working from a the cherry picker using a high-pressure jet of water to clean the windows, but the water jet it had so much recoil it took both men to control it, the writ says.

However, the cherry picker then malfunctioned, and they were stuck about 40 feet off the ground and soaking wet. They could not phone for help as they had left their mobile phones in their car to stop them from getting wet.

The writ says that, despite calling for help, banging on the roof and walls, no-one came. However, there was a smoking pod at ground level on a nearby building and Christopher thought he could get help from anyone who was in it.

It says he exited the basket, walked along an almost flat roof, and walked along a trough-like gutter, but discovered there was no-one in the smoking pod, or anywhere else.

He then tried to get back into the cherry picker basket, which was slightly above the roof edge, but slipped and fell to the ground below, breaking both his ankles clean through. He screamed in excruciating pain, but was on the ground for about an hour before he was found by a passer-by, says the writ.

Michael, was still in the cherry-picker, unable to help his brother, and calling out for help, and he watched as Christopher was air-lifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where he needed surgery on both ankles.

According to the writ he wore cages on both lower legs, and initially used a wheelchair but is now able to walk short distances with a crutch. However, it is too early to say whether he will ever walk again without the use of a support, and his ankles may have to be fused in future.

He has not worked since the accident and it is unlikely he will ever return to manual work, and may not be able to work again, unless he is able to find alternative sedentary work. He also suffered a psychological reaction.

Michael, developed post-traumatic stress disorder after seeing the accident and its aftermath, exacerbated by their mother’s death in 2019, and in his more vulnerable state he developed depression. His condition has improved and his doctor hopes this will continue.

Both men say although they were self-employed, they were employees of Support Maintenance Services as they worked for the company and no-one else, wore its uniforms, and used its work equipment.

They accuse the company, of negligently failing to carry out a risk assessment, failing to maintain the cherry picker in efficient working order and good repair, and failing to ensure the men had adequate training in using it.

The company is also said to have negligently failed to ensure the work was properly planned, appropriately supervised, and failed to take measures to prevent a person from falling far enough to cause injury, it is alleged.

The brothers say the company should have provided a third person at ground level, or should have provided a water jet which could have been safely used by one person, and negligently failed to provide waterproof two-way radio or mobile phone, failed to carry out inspection of the cherry picker and its basket controls, and failed to provide them with a safe system of work.