Exchange Chambers

Chris Barnes, a barrister at Exchange Chambers, has acted for a former soldier who has been awarded nearly £330,000 after he suffered tinnitus in one ear after a training exercise.

Private Charles Bradlaugh had his hearing damaged five years ago but was not entitled to a penny under the Army’s compensation scheme.

When he brought a case against the Ministry of Defence he was initially offered £2,000 which he refused.

This week, the 22-year-old triumphed when a judge ordered the figure to be increased by almost 165-fold to £328,941.

Mr Bradlaugh only ever wanted to serve his country, the Court was told.

Like his father, John, who spent 22 years as a sergeant in the Coldstream Guards, he planned on a life-long career in the Army and enlisted two weeks after his 16th birthday.

In 2004, Mr Bradlaugh was serving in the Army Air Corps. He was participating in his Basic Training which included a live firing exercise. During that exercise, and having removed his hearing protection on instruction, he was exposed to thunderflashes and live gunfire. As a result of his injuries he was medically discharged in 2007.

Under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, someone with much more severe hearing damage than Mr Bradlaugh would get as little as £5,775 – but only if both ears were affected.

Commenting on the award, Chris Barnes said:

“This is a high award to a young man in the early stages of his Army Career. The judge has accepted that he would have pursued that career successfully in the long term, rejecting the MOD’s submissions to the contrary, and that he will inevitably suffer a significant loss of earnings and pension.”

Hilary Meredith, Mr Bradlaugh’s solicitor, said: “Cases like this highlight the inadequacies of the compensation scheme.

“In order to qualify under its rules you have to be far more badly affected – and in both ears. Our client’s injury was bad enough for him to leave the Army but not so bad to be compensated.

“The Government deliberately brought in the compensation scheme to stop soldiers claiming through the courts. It was a penny-pinching exercise but it has backfired on them.”

“Clearly, if they had made a reasonable offer they could have avoided putting this former soldier through the mill, and probably at a lower cost.”