Road-smash mother awarded pounds 800,000 damages

A MOTHER-OF-TWO who has been left needing total care after a road accident was yesterday awarded pounds 800,000 agreed damages. Hairdresser Vivien Hacking received catastrophic head injuries when a car driven by her husband Robert crashed on the A1 near Brampton, Cambridgeshire, in May 1994.

Now in a state of "low awareness", she is paralysed apart from slight movement in some fingers, her counsel Simon Fox told Mr Justice Buckley at the High Court in London.

It is likely that Mrs Hacking, 52, will be cared for at a Sue Ryder home, in Ely, Cambridgeshire, for the rest of her life.

The judge approved the award against the insurers of Mr Hacking, who admitted liability.

Final judgment was adjourned while lawyers investigate setting up a structured settlement which would provide Mrs Hacking with a tax-free, inflation- proof income for life.