A SHOPPER now only has 20 per cent neck movement after he was almost "decapitated" when a supermarket fridge door fell on him as he reached to fetch a pizza.

Stuart Clegg, 53, from Longridge in Lancashire, said the freak accident had turned his world upside down and means he now struggles to carry out basic tasks.

The divorced dad-of-four needs daily care from his elderly mum and has been forced to give up work as a bookkeeper following the 2016 incident that changed his life.

Mr Clegg said: "The pain is so bad that I can't do everyday things like carry a shopping basket.

"I can't drive for a long at all because I get shooting pains in my neck, shoulder, arms and all the way down to my fingers.

"My mum has to come help me all the time. I'm an adult and I shouldn't be like this.

"I have grandchildren and I can't even pick them up or interact with them anymore because of what's happened."

FRIDGE DOOR COLLAPSE

The freak incident happened at a Booths supermarket in May 2016.

Mr Clegg, a granddad-of-six, said he was leaning into the fridge when the glass door he had just opened came loose and fell on him "like a guillotine".

He said: "It came down on top of me and pinned me to the floor…I couldn't move.

"I thought 'bloody hell what on earth has happened here?' You don't expect to go into a supermarket and be floored by a fridge door. I was shocked and shaken up."

Mr Clegg said a number of staff members came to his help and asked if he needed an ambulance but he was able to get himself to hospital on his own.

After being discharged, the 53-year-old had to later have two discs removed from his neck after complaining of severe neck and nerve pain.

He now has to visit hospital every six weeks for nerve blocking injections to try and relieve the pain.

He was taking legal action against the supermarket 12 months later when an X-ray revealed he had a mild form of arthritis in his neck which he was unaware of.

The former bookmaker said the supermarket’s lawyers claimed the surgery he had was inevitable and the fridge incident had merely accelerated the need for it.

As a result Mr Clegg said he was only offered £7,000 compensation but would have been offered nearer £100,000 had he not been diagnosed with arthritis.

He said: "I feel like I have been poorly treated.

"Beforehand I lived a normal life but now everything has changed…I can barely do anything for myself."

A Booths spokesman said: "I can confirm that Mr Clegg unfortunately suffered an accident within our Longridge Store in May 2016.

"Subsequently Mr Clegg instructed solicitors to act on his behalf who brought a claim against the Company for which liability was admitted.

"The claim was settled in the sum of £7,000 in full and final settlement."

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