The volume of water that breaks off Antartica as icebergs each year is greater than the total global consumption of freshwater. And icebergs are pure freshwater. Not for the first time, schemes have been proposed to tow icebergs to hot, water-stressed regions of the world. In Spring 2018, for example, before the rains finally came, the four million people in Cape Town, South Africa, came perilously close to ‘Day Zero’ – when they would run out of water. Though the idea of using icebergs in this way originated as long ago as the 19th Century, no plan has ever been put into action. The idea makes even more sense when you think of icebergs otherwise being “wasted” by melting into the salty seas. Of course, another feature of icebergs is that much more of them lie below the waterline than above. Ships need to be aware that initial appearances are deceptive where icebergs are concerned. In this article, we are going to consider why a superficial approach does not work and why Continue Reading
5 tradesman-related issues to consider if you are getting work done on your house
At Grigor & Young (Moray Claims is a trading name of Grigor & Young) we get a lot of enquiries from people who need legal advice in relation to work done on their house, usually somewhere in Moray. This covers everything from new builds to renovations and extensions. The types of contractors involved include builders, electricians, plumbers, joiners and double-glazing companies. In varying degrees, these situations are a "nightmare" and, as we go on to explain below, it is often not financially realistic to engage the services of a solicitor to help you. Essentially, this article is an effort to warn you of the need to plan and organise various things at the beginning rather than leaving them until later - when things have already gone wrong and it's "too late". Unlike many articles on this website, while we still hope to educate and inform you, we're not hoping to get business from it... If you’re going to get work done on your property, here are 5 things to Continue Reading
3 Important Features of Accidents involving Work at Height
Sunday, 26 August 2018 marked the 90th anniversary of the “snail in the ginger beer bottle” incident. While enjoying a drink with a friend in the Wellmeadow Café in Paisley, May Donoghue found an unwelcome addition to the contents of her bottled drink in the form of a decomposing snail. The injury she suffered when she drank the unpleasant mixture gave rise to the case of Donoghue –v- Stevenson, one of the most famous personal injury cases of all time. Though you would more readily link cheese with a mouse than ginger beer with a snail, it was ironic that a dead animal should again feature in a personal injury scenario reported so close to Donoghue –v- Stevenson’s 90th anniversary. On 22 August 2018, Kirkwall Sheriff Court dealt with a criminal prosecution arising out of an accident in a cheese factory in Orkney. A dead mouse caused an employee to have to work at a height from which he (the employee) fell and suffered injury. In this article, we will look at three aspects of work Continue Reading
Why would you want to become a Personal Injury Solicitor?
When I was a child, my parents used to get the Reader’s Digest and I was fascinated by a regular feature in that, called "Drama in Real Life". They would have titles like: One Handhold from Death, 'Pull me out!' and The man who wouldn't jump. These articles would tell the story of how do someone survived a situation of great personal peril, which could be anything from a natural disaster to a hotel fire or an accident at work. Often, other people involved in the situation did not make it out alive. This would get me thinking about how better precautions or preventative measures might have been taken so as to avoid the injury and loss of life. As I grew older, I remember feelings of frustration in situations where I felt powerless because I did not know my legal rights. It has been said that "If you don't know your rights, you don't have any". What I perceived as injustice in many situations really frustrated me. It got me thinking that, if I knew about my own rights letter, Continue Reading