Can I Get Compensation (UK)?
Yes you can. If you have suffered food poisoning due to the negligence of a cafe, restaurant or supermarket you should try to claim. Every case is different so it is impossible to put an exact value on how much you can claim back.
But if you have experienced intense pain, diarrhoea, vomiting or irritable bowel syndrome and have been unable to work due to your symptoms you can generally claim back between £30,630 and £41,860.
If your symptoms include discomfort of bowels and a degree of malfunction and this has resulted in reduced enjoyment of food or activities in life, but has only been short lived, you can typically claim back between £7,600 and £15,300.
If your food poisoning has caused significant discomfort, stomach cramps, loss of bowel function and fatigue and symptoms have persisted for weeks, with a possible hospital admission, you should be able to claim back between £3,150 and £7,600.
If your symptoms of diarrhoea or cramping have only lasted days or maybe a week you should be able to claim back £730 to £3,150.
What To Do If You Believe You Have A Claim
Attend a hospital or a GP, so the food poisoning can be added to your medical notes. Also, a blood test should be conducted within days and if a certain piece of bacteria is found, this is an essential piece of evidence needed to make a claim. If you wait more than 2 days for a blood test the bacteria could have left your system.
Keep your receipt from the place you suspect you got food poisoning from. This will give evidence you ate a certain type of food which is likely to cause food poisoning from a specific bacteria. If you do not collect receipts or have lost it, try to obtain a bank statement showing proof of purchase.
Keep food packaging or any remaining food from that packet. This will help track down other possible sufferers who ate the same batch of food. This gives extra proof that you got the poisoning from that specific food.
Keep a diary since the onset of symptoms. This should include severity of symptoms, loss of finances from potentially having days off work and evidence of a loss of enjoyment of food, daily activities or sex life. This will all be vital evidence for your claim.