Camden News - by DAN CARRIER Published: 4 December 2008
Road crash victim in £2.75m settlement
A MOTHER of six who suffered serious head injuries after a car knocked her down on a zebra crossing has been awarded £2.75m by the driver’s insurers. Pamela Green, who lives in Spaniards Lane, was hit by a car in March 2006 as she returned home from walking her poodle on Hampstead Heath. Her injuries, which included a shattered pelvis, were so severe she had to be flown by helicopter to head injury specialists at the Royal London Hospital in east London.
Mrs Green, who with husband Lionel ran a string of successful property companies in Hampstead, was also the primary carer for her 47-year-old son Paul, who has cerebral palsy.
This prompted the unprecedented scale of the settlement, which is one of the largest of its kind for a person in their 70s.
Mrs Green’s oldest son David said: “Her recovery has not exactly been fantastic – this was a life-changing event, and it has taken two-and-a-half hard years to get to this point. “She cared for my brother Paul full-time and from the moment of her accident she was unable to do so.”
The family took action against the driver, accusing him of driving without paying appropriate attention.
He was going at 30mph but the family’s barrister were set to argue in the High Court that Mrs Green and her dog – the largest type of poodle – would have easily been visible.
The insurers settled the claim without admitting liability.