A DIABETIC demolition worker has lost a court action against bosses whose alleged negligence caused him to undergo two amputation procedures.

Joseph McIlwraith,57, went to the Court of Session in a bid to recover damages from his bosses at Bluevale Structures Ltd, a business based in Glasgow.

Judge Lord Ericht heard how Mr McIlwraith had been working for the company at a warehouse at Woodpark Industrial estate in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire.

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The court heard how between May and June 2018, Mr McIlwraith was instructed by chiefs to work at the site at the premises which sustained a collapsed roof and didn’t provide workers with protection from the weather.

Lord Ericht heard how Mr McIlwraith and his colleagues worked when it was raining and had to do their tasks in six inches of standing water.

He was wearing steel toe capped boots which weren’t water proof and his feet became wet - it was alleged that a dry room provided by the demolition contractor wasn’t heated overnight and his boots remained wet.

The court also heard that at the end of the working day, the pursuer changed into dry shoes for his journey home and his feet remained dry until his return to work the next day.

Lawyers for Mr McIlwraith told the court that he later became unwell and had to go to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow with a foot infection.

He initially got his toe amputated. However, the infection spread and his right leg below the knee was also removed.

Mr McIlwraith’s legal team claimed he suffered from immersion foot syndrome - a condition otherwise known as Trench Foot which was common in first world war soldiers.

The lawyers sued the firm initially for £900,000 - the figure was later reduced to £85,000.

They claimed that managers at Bluevale Structures Ltd didn’t do enough to protect Mr McIlwraith by providing him with non waterproof boots and ensuring that his feet were kept dry.

The lawyers claimed that this led to Mr McIlwraith’s foot becoming infected and him having to undergo the amputation procedures.

Lawyers for the company claimed that Mr McIlwraith’s diabetes could have made him more prone to complications which could have led him to needing his toe amputated.

They also argued that Mr McIlwraith couldn’t prove that working in wet conditions directly caused him to become ill.

The court also heard evidence from Keith Hussey, a consultant vascular and endovascular surgeon from the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

Mr Hussey told the court that diabetics are at higher risk of amputation than people who don’t have the condition.

He said that Mr MIlwraith’s medical history would have put him at an “increased risk” of “major limb amputation.”

He also told the court that from the evidence led in court, a person who acted in the way Mr McIlwraith did wouldn’t normally have been suffering from immersion foot syndrome.

In a written judgement published by the court on Wednesday, Lord Ericht ruled in favour of the firm saying that the pursuer had failed to show that his injury was caused by working in standing water.

He wrote:”It is clear from the medical evidence that even diabetics who do not get their feet wet can end up in the same position as the pursuer in respect of amputation of a limb. It is in the nature of the disease of diabetes.

“In order to succeed in this case, the pursuer requires to prove on the balance of probabilities that, rather than the cause being one of the other incidents of diabetes which could lead to amputation, the cause was infection caused by toe ulceration caused by Immersion Foot Syndrome caused by getting his feet wet.

“In my opinion the pursuer has failed to do so. He has not demonstrated that he suffered from Immersion Foot Syndrome. At the end of the working day..the pursuer changed into dry shoes for the journey home and his feet remained dry until his return to work the next day.

“That is not eloquent of the consistent soaking and lack of drying off referred to by Mr Hussey as being required for the development of Immersion Foot Syndrome.

“While I accept the pursuer’s evidence that his feet were sore and he suffered from pins and needles, that does not assist in proving causation as he had been experiencing that since 2012 as a symptom of his diabetes.

“In all the circumstances I find that the injury suffered by the pursuer was not caused by getting his feet wet by standing in water in the course of his employment.

“The pursuer’s case fails on causation. I shall grant decree of absolvitor.”