Pretoria - A trip to purchase groceries shortly before Christmas five years ago ended in disaster for Mabopane resident Christina Mthembu and her husband at the local Big Save Store.
She fell down a ramp as she left the store and severely injured herself.
Mthembu turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, where she claimed damages against the owners of the store.
It is not at this stage known how much she is claiming, as this will be revealed later when the court deals with the actual damages she had suffered.
The incident occurred when she exited the store via a descending slope that was uneven. It was argued on her behalf that the angle of the slope and its uneven surface were potentially dangerous and caused her to slip and fall.
She said the ramp was made of paving bricks, which created an uneven surface. According to her, there were also no rails at the time to hold on to.
The shop management, on the other hand, denied that the fall was due to its negligence.
It was argued that Mthembu carried a large plastic bowl filled with groceries, and that she did not look where she was walking.
Mthembu testified that she and her husband went to the Big Save Store on December 15, 2017 to purchase groceries and other items. She knew the store and its surroundings as she visited it at least once a month.
She testified that at the entrance there were no notices to warn customers of potential danger when exiting the store.
Mthembu was referred by counsel for the store owners to pictures of notices outside the door to the premises with the words “caution, slippery when wet”.
A smaller notice directly underneath the first notice has a drawing of a person stumbling over an obstruction on the ground and is encased in yellow. On top of the drawing the word “Caution” appears and underneath the drawing in smaller print, the words “Uneven ground” appears.
Both Mthembu and her husband denied that these notices were there on the day of the incident.
It emerged that the store, since the incident, had installed handrails on the wall next to the exit door.
Mthembu explained that after paying for the goods they had bought, they found that not all of it could fit into the trolley. Some of the smaller items were placed in a plastic container, which she placed on her head.
When she walked down the ramp she moved the container to her left shoulder and carried it using both her hands. When she had almost reached the end of the slope she slipped and fell.
She testified that she threw the container aside while she was falling and grabbed for something to stop her fall. There were no handrails on the parking area side of the slope and she fell on the ground.
She testified that she did not stumble over any object, but slipped and lost her footing because the slope was slippery.
Judge Nicolene Janse van Nieuwenhuizen said: “It is clear from the angle of the slope and the uneven surface that a reasonable store owner would have foreseen the reasonable possibility that the ramp would injure its customers.”
She ordered the owners of the store pay Mthembu the damages which she proved she had suffered, to include medical claims which would be determined at a later stage.
Pretoria News