© The Irish Independent
A 35 year old operations engineer has told a judge he was hit with flying particles of glass when a branch broke the front top deck window on a Dublin Bus.
John Nolan, counsel for Rafal Kowalski, of Oaktree Drive, Castleknock, Dublin, said in the Circuit Civil Court that Mr Kowalski was sitting with his wife when particles of glass was sprayed all over them.
Kowalski told Judge Matthew Deery he was also enveloped in a cloud of dust and debris and matter went into his eyes. He took what he believed was a glass crystal from his right eye a few days after the July 2011 incident.
He said he had difficulty for a short while afterwards with far sighted vision, light change when entering a lighted area from darkness and with night vision generally.
Judge Deery said Mr Kowalski’s wife had been taken to hospital by ambulance but he had not immediately visited his doctor. He had later attended the Eye and Ear Hospital where his vision was found to be six over five which was better than normal vision.
Awarding him €8,000 damages against Dublin Bus, Judge Deery said expert evidence did not substantiate Mr Kowalski’s claims but he accepted he had suffered discomfort from dry eye syndrome for several months following the accident. Mrs Kowalski was not involved in today’s claim.
Mr Gerard O’Herlihy, for Dublin Bus, said the company conceded that a window had been smashed when a tree branch struck the window on the No 37 Bus in which the Kowalskis were passengers in July 2011.