Local Appeal Tribunal case file for Daniel Boyall, aged 41, Lorry driver at Area...

Date of birth:
Marital status: Married
Address: Not given, Not given
Type of benefit claimed: Injury benefit
Type of injury: Injuries - right knee, shoulder and groin
Further information: Boyall claimed to have suffered injuries, on 19 November 1954, to his right knee and shoulder - his NUM representative also added, in evidence submitted to the tribunal, that he had been struck in the groin - after he released the tailboard of the lorry he had used to transport ashes from Bonds Main Colliery to Woolley Moor and was struck by a clinker (described in a submission by his employer as 'big cinder shot'). During the proceedings before the tribunal on 16 December 1954, Joseph Kitts, the NUM representative, suggested that Boyall was also 'possibly hit by the tailboard as well'. Boyall's claim for Injury Benefit was accompanied by two witness statements, both of whom were colleagues of Boyall's assisting in the transportation of the ashes, although neither actually saw the accident itself. The Insurance Officer, to whom the claim was first submitted, told the tribunal that the employer could find no evidence of an accident happening - there was no outward sign of injury and a hospital x-ray was 'reported to have been negative in result' - and expressed scepticism that it could have taken place at all (the appeal papers include lengthy information about what is involved when releasing lorry tailboard when loaded with red-hot ash). Kitts, in his statement to the tribunal, said: 'There is no doubt that he was hit by the clinkers. Mr Mottishaw, a witness, did not see the accident but immediately after called for help saying to another driver "You'd better come here Boyall is dying"'. A transcript of Boyall's medical examination - the date on which this took place is unclear - that was submitted as evidence to the tribunal noted the tenderness in Boyall's right groin and a swelling and tenderness of the right knee, and stated that Boyall's 'condition is consistent with the accident as described'. The tribunal accepted that Boyall suffered personal injury by accident and allowed his appeal.