£60,000 award at troubled college

by John Stevenson

A kitchen assistant who fell after being distracted by a faulty hot drinks machine has been awarded more than £60,000 in compensation.

UNISON member Helen Given said she heard hissing and saw a flashing light from a vending machine causing her to fall at James Watt College in Greenock in May 2003.

She broke her hip and right wrist in the fall, spent 10 weeks in hospital and was bed-ridden for six months.

An Edinburgh court found that the college had been at fault for breaching health and safety operations by operating faulty machinery. James Watt College agreed that the drinks machine was prone to malfunctioning but said they could not take responsibility for the fall.

Seconds before she fell, Helen moved a student with special needs away from the machine after it started to hiss.

This is yet another blow to the troubled college which has seen adverse press coverage in recent weeks and an industrial action ballot last October.

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