A SECURITY man with Tesco who was one of seven employees trapped in an in-store lift for almost an hour has been awarded €13,500 damages for posttraumatic stress disorder.
Judge Joseph Mathews said in the Circuit Civil Court yesterday lack of oxygen, heat and humidity had caused fear and panic in William Murphy (27), of Ballyduff, Ashford, Co Wicklow, as he awaited rescue.
Mr Murphy had sued Tesco Ireland Ltd and Byrne Lifts Ltd, Millenium Business Park, Cappagh Road, Dublin, which had installed and maintained the lift at Tesco’s Dundrum Shopping Centre store.
Judge Mathews, awarding Mr Murphy damages, said he had been affected to such an extent by the September 2006 incident that he had been out of work for several weeks with a stress-related illness, and still feared lifts and confined spaces.
Gillian Reid, for Mr Murphy, told the court he was a security man in the Wicklow town Tesco branch and had been among a group of employees attending a course in the Dundrum branch.
Ms Reid said after Mr Murphy and others had entered the lift, it had dropped without warning and suddenly juddered to a halt, trapping the group for between 45 minutes and an hour.
Another member of the group, security man Gerard Boland (50), of Brindley Park Road, Ashbourne, Co Meath, was awarded €10,000 damages for upper back and neck pain injuries caused by the lift’s sudden stop.
Garrett Cooney, for Mr Boland, told the court the group had eventually been freed by firemen who had to force open the lift.
Former Tesco employee Billy Holmes told barrister Gerard Groarke, for Byrne Lifts Ltd, that he was in the lift with the group when the incident happened.
He said the lift had moved a bit and then stopped, but had not jerked to a standstill. People had started to panic, but he was okay. He was back at work the next day and had not been injured, nor had he required any treatment.
Judge Mathews, in a reserved judgment following a two-day hearing of the case, said he was satisfied the lift had not been overloaded, and that the problem had been caused by its over-speeding.
He accepted the predetermined speed had caused an over-heating of fluid in the hydraulic system, which triggered an over-sensitively set emergency safety system.
Judge Mathews said such a malfunction was foreseeable, and a cooling system should have been installed to prevent it happening.
He said Mr Murphy and Mr Boland were entitled to succeed in their claims against both defendants.
The judge told Graham Quinn, for Tesco, the company was entitled to a 100 per cent indemnity order against Byrne Lifts Ltd for all damages and legal costs.