Bookies are not the safest place to work!

Horse Racing: Coral manager recovering from surgery after stabbing.

Byline: Graham Green

A CORAL manager stabbed three times during a robbery at his betting shop in Bradford on Sunday night has had his spleen removed, writes Graham Green.
The 50-year-old man is recovering in Bradford Royal Infirmary after the attack, which was branded "vile and cowardly" by company spokesman Dave Stevens.
The manager, who had been working alone at the shop in Market Street, Thornton, for the previous three hours, was in the process of shutting up when the robber struck around 6pm. After being forced behind the cash desk, he was knifed by his attacker, who later fled with a small amount of money.
Despite being badly injured, the manager was able to raise the alarm and was taken to hospital, where surgeons operated soon after his admission. Coral are not naming the employee, who has been with the firm since the shop was taken over as part of the John Woods bookmakers purchase in December 2003.
"The area manager went to see him on Monday and, thankfully, he was as well as could be expected," said Stevens.
"Our chief priority is the welfare of our member of staff, and we will do all we can to support him and his family, and to help police with their inquiries.
"Attacks of that nature, with that level of violence, are, fortunately, still a rare occurrence and we are just very relieved that he is out of danger."
Stevens added: "The robber got away with a small sum of money, and this is the other thing about it - there is never a large amount of money in a betting shop' that is just a myth."
A spokesman for West Yorkshire police said yesterday: "A 33-year-old man arrested on Sunday night has since been released on police bail and inquiries are continuing."
Police are appealing to anyone who was in the Market Street and Fountain Street area in the hour before the robbery, or anybody who visited the Coral shop during that time, to contact them on 01274 376259.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Horse+Racing%3A+Coral+manager+recovering+from+surgery+after+stabbing.-a0158190369
Chappel v Gala Coral 2013
We saved our client £350,000 following a full denial of a case involving an assault of a betting shop manager in Bradford in 2007.
http://www.gallagherbassett.co.uk/article/2014/03/29/chappel-v-gala-coral-2013
The claimant was the manager of a Coral Racing betting shop near Bradford when he suffered injuries following an assault/robbery of the shop on 21 January 2007.
The claimant suffered stab wounds to his stomach, chest, legs, torso, finger and face which resulted in injury to his spleen. It is believed that he had to have his spleen removed and suffered from PTSD which prevented the claimant from meaningful employment. The claimant claim was pleaded in excess of £225,000.
The Claimant’s legal representatives argued liability stating there was inadequate security insofar that the betting shop had no CCTV and other security measures were inadequate. Unbeknown to Coral the Claimant had some of his own money stored in a safe on the premises and following investigation by the Police it was discovered that the Claimant kept a knife in the safe also.
Our instructed solicitors acting for Coral obtained advice from Counsel, it was opined that there had probably been a breach of duty but there were major issues with causation because of the hidden money. The advice was as per our own instructions that being to continue to defend. Legal advice was given to consider making a nuisance offer when questioning the claimant following several inconsistencies with the evidence given, however it was agreed to await sight of further expert evidence.
A jointly instructed expert report was obtained in relation to the security measures in place it suggest there was little fault on the part of Coral Racing Ltd. Based on this encouraging report it was agreed to pursue to trial maintaining the denial, the claimant was at this point invited to discontinue the claim, he did not.
Judgement was handed down in January this year, with Coral being successful in the full denial, the saving on the claim inclusive of costs is in the region of £350,000.
The case was handled by Emma Harris, Senior Adjuster in Swindon.

Ban gambling addiction machines from our high streets.

Sign the petition: to ban gambling addiction machines from our high streets. (B2 / FOBTs)

Our high streets are being taken over by betting companies whose business model is to create and exploit gambling addictions.

This isn’t about placing the odd bet on a football match or horse race. Bookies use their electronic gambling machines to filter out that casual crowd: they’re looking for people with the potential for a serious gambling addiction.

Fixed-odds betting terminals feed a dependency just as powerful as drugs or alcohol. Their high speed games, with stakes as high as £100 every twenty seconds, mean you can easily lose a month’s wages in under an hour. Eventually you realise you’re not doing it for the money – you’re doing it because you’re physically addicted to the rush.

I’ve lost numerous jobs because of electronic gambling. I’ve lost two properties through failure to keep up with mortage payments, I've amassed £100,000s in debt, I’m separated from my wife and children, and I’m trapped in a situation where I can’t rent accommodation because my credit score is so low and I haven’t enough money for a deposit. Now I’ve got special blocks on my computer that stop me straying onto a betting site – I even had to disable them to set up this petition.

We can do something to change the tide of misery and reclaim our high streets. We can sign this petition.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ban-gambling-addiction-machines-from-our-high-streets