A builder who was working on the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow has been awarded £250,000 in personal injury compensation after he fell from 12oft from the roof. The builder, twenty-four-year-old Parminder Singh, fell from the roof in 2005 when a girder he was standing on snapped. He suffered personal injuries to his back, leg and head.

A work colleague, Mr Matthew Gilbert, died in the incident.

Mr Singh battled for personal injury compensation for four years because the Home Office wouldn’t let him back into the UK when he had returned to India to recover from his injuries. At the time of accident Mr Singh lived in Slough.

Mr Singh said of the accident at work:

I can’t remember much about the fall but I suffered nightmares for months. It was truly a miracle I survived. My leg was broken and my knee, back, jaw and teeth were injured. Life has been very difficult. I have been left with one leg shorter than the other and unless I move about my body seizes up.

According to doctors, Mr Singh only survived the fall because he was very fit as a martial arts expert.