Irwin Mitchell’s specialist Armed Forces solicitors have negotiated a settlement of £106,500 for an RAF craftsman, after he suffered a non-freezing cold injury on a five day training exercise in Norfolk in 2008.

Our client described his injuries as “someone sticking hot metal pins at the end of my toes”. They came about following various field craft activities during the day and performing sentry duty at night during the training exercise.

Each sentry duty would involve our client kneeling, sitting or standing in a dug out area in freezing cold temperatures without the right clothing or equipment. It rained over the five day period, resulting in the serviceman having to stand in cold water that covered his feet.

It was only when our client returned to camp and had a hot shower that he noticed that his feet were tingling and remained numb.

As a result of the RAF craftsman’s non-freezing cold injuries to his feet, he was medically discharged from the RAF.

It had always been our client’s long term ambition to serve in the RAF regiment, and having to leave because of his injury has been very difficult to come to terms with. The claim was finally concluded following a joint settlement meeting with the Ministry of Defence.

Andrew Buckham, an expert with Irwin Mitchell’s military claims team, represented the serviceman. He said: "The MoD owes its personnel a duty of care to keep them safe, even in challenging and hostile conditions such as those faced by our client.

"We hope that the settlement will go some way towards securing excellent rehabilitation and long term quality of life for the RAF craftsman."

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