Lead Stories

Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

The government-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) is to pay $6 million with interest to a former conductress who was injured on the job because of safety hazards.

Stephanie Tilmutt had judgment awarded in her favour after Supreme Court judge Carol Lawrence-Beswick found that the bus company was negligent.

Tilmut sustained serious injury to her back on April 29, 2005 when the bus stopped suddenly and she fell while replacing a roll of paper in the ticket dispenser. Medical evidence indicated that her permanent, partial disability was estimated at 24 per cent of her body.

Tilmutt said she would be penalised if passengers did not have tickets. On the day of the incident, the telephone by her seat, which facilitated communication with the driver, was dysfunctional, thereby preventing her from informing him that she was changing the ticket roll.

Attorneys-at-law Sean Kinghorn and Danielle Archer argued that the JUTC was liable because it did not provide a safe system of work for Tilmutt.

Lawyers for the JUTC argued that Tilmutt did not fall inside the bus but the judge rejected that argument.

It was the judge's finding that the JUTC failed to provide a safe system to replenish the dispensing machine during the course of a trip and the employee was left to devise a method. The judge said in the absence of a rule or regulation she found JUTC liable.

Tilmutt was found to be 20 per cent liable for her injuries. The judge said common sense dictated that she should have changed the paper when the bus was at a standstill, or take extreme care to anchor herself if the bus was moving.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com