Other than mishaps caused by drunk students racing trolleys down steep hills, of which I have heard many a tale, trolley-related injuries remain rather rare.

That being said, 73-year-old Maria Conradie is one such victim, and she’s going after Woolies with the full might of the law.

Conradie is suing the company for R570 000 in damages related to an incident in June 2013, when she crashed her shopping trolley on the driveway of the Kolonnade Shopping Centre north of Pretoria.

She was on the way to her car, reports IOL, when she had to negotiate a speed bump:

She battled to push the trolley over the hump and lost her footing. She fell with a “terrible crash” to the ground. The trolley overturned and fell on the right side of her body.

Conradie said she spent about two weeks in hospital, having broken her right arm and shoulder. She also had to receive a hip operation.

She said in papers before the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, that she had lost the full use of her right arm and shoulder and had unsightly scars.

Conradie further said she was now permanently limping.

She blamed Woolworths for her ill fortune, stating that the company should see to it that its trolleys were in a decent working order before allowing the public to use them.

Conradie blames a faulty front wheel for the trolley overturning, and argues that Woolies has a duty to the public to ensure that nobody is injured as a result of using their trolleys.

A 78-year-old man recently settled out of court with SPAR for R150 000 in a trolley-related claim, although that time around a worker pushing an industrial trolley piled high with boxes collided with him.

Woolworths has denied any liability, saying that Conradie’s trolley probably overturned as a result of being overloaded with shopping:

It said it in any event had no knowledge of the incident and did not owe the public an absolute duty of care as claimed by Conradie.

According to the retailer, it provides trolleys for the use of its consumers at their own risk. These trolleys, however, should be used in a reasonable manner to prevent injury.

It said the trolleys should not be abused, but used for the purpose for which they were designed – to carry a reasonable amount of shopping.

They further stated that they use an outside company to look after the trolleys, and thus cannot themselves be held responsible for Conradie’s injuries

Sadly, the case was not ready to go ahead this week, as was originally planned, and has been indefinitely postponed.

We will have to wait to find out how the drama of Conradie versus Woolworths turns out. Oh well, there’s always Game of Thrones.

[source:iol]