£1.2m payout so children can care for dad at home

THE children of a catastrophically injured crash victim are desperate to bring him home – and now have a £1.26m compensation payout to help them.

The man, in his 70s, who cannot be named, suffered appalling brain damage when knocked off his motorbike by a car in Merthyr Tydfil in 2014.

He remains in a “minimally conscious state” and is cared for in a rehabilitation unit near his South Wales home, London’s High Court heard.

But his children are determined that he should not stay there for the rest of his life and want him to come home with a specialist team of carers.

Lawyers on the man’s behalf sued the motorist involved in the accident and his insurers have now agreed to settle the claim on the basis of 90% liability.

The family’s counsel, Mr Stephen Killalea QC, said he would receive a £1.26m lump sum, as well as annual, indexlinked and tax-free payments.

Those payments will be £54,000 a year while he remains in the rehabilitation unit, said the barrister.

But, if he comes home, they will increase to £247,500 to cover the enormous cost of having a round-the-clock team of carers in place.

Mr Killalea said his children are adamant that he is not in a “persistent vegetative state” and is aware of the world around him.

“They care very much indeed about that and they want him in his own home. They would be infinitely happier if he were in a domestic setting of his own.”

Approving the settlement, Judge Richard Pearce agreed that that outcome was “very much to be hoped for”.

He added: “The children are committed to him being in his own home and that would be in his very best interests.

“They have a strong wish to make living at home a proper and realistic solution.”

He concluded: “I pay tribute to the huge amount of commitment and dedication the children have shown in ensuring that their father has the very best possible quality of life.”