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Ruth Hart's Story

"I joined the Royal Navy for life. At least, I thought I had. In reality, I lasted less than 6 years. I was the victim of an accident."

"While trying to close a very heavy hatch on the frigate I was serving on, something snapped in my left knee, then my leg gave way and I had a fall.

It was excruciatingly painful and there was so much swelling that, despite immediate x-rays, I was sent to spend a week in a sick bay.

This was to allow the swelling to subside so a proper examination could take place. I had more x-rays and I was told that I had torn ligaments and was placed in a full leg cast and sent home.

While I was at home I was in so much pain that I went to my local hospital.

I had an operation to find out what was wrong with my knee. It was discovered that I had a torn cartilage, torn ligaments and severe ligament damage inside my knee and that it would require major reconstruction – and so I had the second of what was to be a series of four operations. I also had an adverse reaction from the operation, leaving me with a condition called reactive sympathetic dystrophy.

This led to a burning painful sensation and swelling in my feet and I can’t put any weight on my feet for long to this day.

The third operation included a graft - taking bone from my hip to use in my knee. Then I had a fourth operation which included a hamstring graft and a tendon graft.

When I was discharged from the navy I was lucky to find a sympathetic employer who accepted that I was, in effect, still recovering.

Frequently I would fall over from my knee giving way and would have to use crutches to prevent this, and at one point it gave way and I broke my wrist.

Despite having numerous operations I have never fully recovered. My knee is still very weak and painful.

While I was still in the navy I became very angry about what had happened to me and also about the lack of help from the navy once I was deemed unfit.

So I contacted a firm of solicitors I had seen advertising about personal injury claims on TV. At first, they advised me that I might get £5,000. But they wrote a month or so later and said they didn’t think I had a case. After that, I didn’t do anything further for about 2 years. But I was still very angry. I had originally been told I’d be back on ship in 6 weeks. But the reality had become very different.

I was depressed and my whole life was in upheaval, full of endless medical appointments and I was going to be discharged from the navy.

I went to a Settlement Workshop, which is part of the process of being discharged and to help you find work when you leave.

There, I spoke with the British Legion about my case and they advised me to write to them and they would see what they could do to help me.

I did and, in turn, the British Legion put Thompsons Solicitors in touch with me.

The whole experience with Thompsons was completely different to the other solicitors. They treated me like a person. They were sympathetic and understood I was going through a bad time.

What’s more, not only did Thompsons think I did have a case, but that it was a good one and that I might get very much more than the £5000 the other solicitors had mentioned and then withdrawn.

However, there was also a really tight deadline involved – there is a 3 year limit on claiming against the armed forces for such personal injuries and there were only a few months left.

Thompsons handled everything speedily and really well – they were always phoning and emailing me, to keep me posted.

And they also understood aspects of my case particular to having been a member of the armed forces.

Eventually we got a court date. But an offer came in before then and Thompsons advised against accepting it. They were right – we accepted a much higher amount soon after.

In fact I’m over the moon – it was way beyond what the first firm with the ads on TV suggested.

And I didn’t have to go to court at all, which was quite a relief.

Today, I still can’t stand for long periods, not longer than 5 minutes. And there are jobs I would like to do that I simply can’t – I’d love to be a paramedic, a physiotherapist or join the fire brigade.

Even after the settlement, I felt Thompson’s still made me feel important to them and they dealt with any of my concerns immediately.

Their lawyer even helped change my attitude to what had happened to me. He encouraged me to remain positive and look to the future rather than the past, helped by the compensation I’ve been awarded.

As a result I’m determined to move on and put everything behind me and start a new life in another country.

I’ve done some Health and Safety training and will be looking to return to full time work in this field, perhaps in risk assessment and inspection.

The service that I received from Thompson’s solicitors, as we would say in the navy, was “second to none”

Ruth Hart