soldier sues for wrong boots

[Danny_Dravot]

in today's times, p4 (sorry don't have a link) but....

former 'soldier' louisa swanston is to sue the mod for £150000 after being given normal boots for a winter bosnia tour...
....the cold weather boots that she was issue were 2 sizes too big so she had to make do with normal temperate climate boots.
the leather soles failed to cope with the extreme cold temperatures and resulted in trench foot.

i've never heard such utter tosh in my life....i might make a case for the old 'crisp-packet' waterproofs that didn't keep me waterproof, or the large pack that wasn't very large!!!!!

 

[MicknDarcyJo]

Leather soles? Was she wearing ammo boots, or am I missing something...

 

[Danny_Dravot]

sorry....my typo...the article says "leather boots" not soles....

 

[Oracle]

1. So she was issued boots which were too big but chose to wear her own instead of exchanging them?

2. She managed to get trench foot. Poor personal admin not a consideration then?

 

[Enigma_Bleep]

admin, admin, admin and yet more admin. she should have got some that fit. end of. now suing the army because of her sore feet...a sign of the times unfortunately. if she wins, is there a case for retrospective claims for the descendants of ww1 vets?.......................

 

[Pompey_Jock]

unfortunately - with this litigious society in which we now live most claims are settled out of court... so although this spurious claim is (almost certainly) bullshit the bottom feeders (Lawyers) on both sides will settle rather than risk a court case (where they may actually have to work for their money).

So the bottom feeders will settle, give themselves a mutual hand-job and a few drinks down the club afterwards, and congratulate each other on a fleecing well done.

 

[msr]

Soldier sues MoD over 'wrong boots'

A woman soldier who was forced to leave the Army after being given the wrong-sized boots and contracting trench foot is suing the Ministry of Defence for £150,000. Louisa Swanston, 28, was given waterproof boots two sizes too big when she was serving in Bosnia and had to make do with leather boots that failed to cope with the sub-zero temperatures. Ms Swanston left the Army in October after being told the nerve endings in her feet were dead.

PJ,

I have to disagree with you. All employers owe their staff a duty of care and fundamental to that is providing the correct equipment to do a job - just look at the furore over the lack of body armour on TELIC1.

msr
P.S. Her QM is a disgrace - don't tell me in the entire army there was not a correctly sized pair.

 

[biohazardboots]

cold weather boots that were two sizes too big? ER yes....... translated they are normal boots but they have the room to wear BOTH pairs of your issued socks.

 

[Pompey_Jock]

PJ,

I have to disagree with you. All employers owe their staff a duty of care and fundamental to that is providing the correct equipment to do a job - just look at the furore over the lack of body armour on TELIC1.

msr
P.S. Her QM is a disgrace - don't tell me in the entire army there was not a correctly sized pair.

body armour, yes - point granted...

but 150k for an issue with boots..... pull the other one.

 

[chocolate_frog]

Unless of course the boots in question are actually 4x to big. If they don't fit, and she had to wear boots that were unsuitable the MoD are going to be caught bang to rights.

This is perhaps one of the things that as a group we tend to look down on, but if every in a similar situation sued then perhaps the MoD mandarins would instruct their pennypinchers to include the potential loss of cash in a sueing case such as this in the overall cost of a scheme.

Might mean they start looking for the best kit, instead of the cheapest.

 

[Danny_Dravot]

i'm sorry this is just another example of extreme cnutish-ness and ms swanston jumping on the 'bad-kit bandwagon'.

how many of us have been issued ill-fitting kit...the answer is probably all of us?

The difference is, the good soldiers amongst us go and do something about it, like a bit of self help, swapsys in the block or (god-forbid) go and buy your own boots. (i've still got my KSBs from 1996!!!)

Is she also going to be suing because she got a bit cold...or did she use her initiative and put on some extra warm kit, or did she survive with just her thermals, wooly-pully and chinese fighting suit?

This attitude actually sickens me!!!

(PS as above CBA different issue)

 

[in_the_cheapseats]

PJ,

I have to disagree with you. All employers owe their staff a duty of care and fundamental to that is providing the correct equipment to do a job - just look at the furore over the lack of body armour on TELIC1.

msr
P.S. Her QM is a disgrace - don't tell me in the entire army there was not a correctly sized pair.

body armour, yes - point granted...

but 150k for an issue with boots..... pull the other one.

Even if you end up with an inability to run/walk in the future because she can't feel it if she is injuring your feet? Will she ever be able to trust herself to go barefoot again? I doubt it.

The majority of us who have served are outdoor types. An injury of this type would seriously cramp my lifestyle. Yours too?

I have every sympathy for the woman and if she can prove the case against the CoC, I reckon the claim is a valid one

This is a regular problem for women. A year ago, I had to go out and buy jungle boots for 3 women via the internet, claiming back via the RAO because the system had fouled up and hadn't sent any boots small enough for them for a Belize tour. Apparently it would have taken "too long" to get them through standard channels as they were all size 3 or 4 and presumably it had been too much effort to get the order right the first time round.

Mrs ITC still has a set of (unworn) jungle boots given to her for a Afghanistan tour that don't fit but were the only ones the QMs had - right size, wrong width.......

 

[Mag_to_grid]

I work for an MOD appointed solicitor defending these types of claims, you should see some of the shi*e we get. I wonder whether I will be dealing with this one in the new year?

 

[sea-king]

My DMS fell to bits when I was at Beleek in `77, I had to wear my pointy cowboy boots ( which I for some reason or another had with me) for a week until new ones got through to me, should I sue the MOD for,

a, Ruining my pointy boots?

b, Making me look like a complete prat for a week?

c, None of the above, my own fault for not checking my kit!

Oh I remember why I had them we were rotating out of St Angelo and had to vacate the acc when we were on "Sharp End " tours. ( We were allowed to go to Enniskillen and I was a Teddy-Boy hence pointy boots.

 

[Pompey_Jock]

I work for an MOD appointed solicitor defending these types of claims, you should see some of the shi*e we get. I wonder whether I will be dealing with this one in the new year?

I work in an area of this "industry" also - and doubt I would be surprised by the substance (or lack thereof) of some of the 'claims'....

in this particular instance my earlier posts above were maybe a bit harsh (as I didnt check into googling any of the related articles), and were more aimed at the current culture of spurious litigation as a whole rather than this particular case.

 

[crabby]

Solider sues MoD over 'wrong boots'

A woman soldier who was forced to leave the Army after being given the wrong-sized boots and contracting trench foot is suing the Ministry of Defence for £150,000. Louisa Swanston, 28, was given waterproof boots two sizes too big when she was serving in Bosnia and had to make do with leather boots that failed to cope with the sub-zero temperatures. Ms Swanston left the Army in October after being told the nerve endings in her feet were dead.

The Times

Did she try and get them exchanged?

Sounds of the article she was issued pro-boots she could not use as they were too big. We have not been told if they refused to exchange the boots or not. She therefore seems to have used normal (issued) boots (note, seems).

If other soldiers were issued with correct footwear then does she not have a claim IF she made all reasonable attempts to get them exchanged?
Or, if other soldiers suffered, and possibly suffered the same medical condition then they too could claim; as the MoD could possibly have been negligent in the care of its soldiers.

Or she could be a gold-digging b*tch.

 

[civvygit]

We are talking about trench foot (not chilblains/frostbite)? What job did she do? You would have to spend a fair amount of time with cold wet feet to get trench foot.
Which also brings into question her lack of personal admin. I could understand if a soldier was out in the field away from accommodation for an extended period, with no chance of taking off boots to change socks, dry and powder feet etc.
Just smacks of a lack of basic drills, common sense and blaming someone else.

 

[crabby]

We are talking about trench foot (not chilblains/frostbite)? What job did she do? You would have to spend a fair amount of time with cold wet feet to get trench foot.
Which also brings into question her lack of personal admin. I could understand if a soldier was out in the field away from accommodation for an extended period, with no chance of taking off boots to change socks, dry and powder feet etc.
Just smacks of a lack of basic drills, common sense and blaming someone else.

Well no-one actually knows that do they? Everyone here, me included, are just guessing. She could be a biff-chit bint who got chilly feet, was kak and left cos she was useless as mammary glands on fish; or she could have been genuinely let down by the QM/supply system and has genuinely suffered since.

 

[chocolate_frog]

From what I have surmised from the Sunday Mirror report she is an ex-Gunner. At 28 she is about the right age that she could have served in some pretty honking conditions in Bosnia.

Story here url=http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/tm_headline=british-troops-are-top-%26method=full%26objectid=18322004%26siteid=62484-name_page.html]clicky[/url]

 

[fastmedic]

Can I sue for the chafing on my neck that those nasty hairy shirts caused, also the blisters when that nasty sergeant made me run for ever so long?

I want to also mention the cold Portacabin in XMG that didn't have enough heating and I caught a terrible head cold, not nice at all


fastmedic