A mechanic who sliced his fingers while servicing a police car was awarded £400,000 damages by the High Court yesterday.

Alexander Darg, a mobile technician for Venson Group, injured the index and middle fingers on his left hand on a knife wedged down the side of the driver’s seat while working on a vehicle at Limehouse police station, East London, in September 2002. His wedding ring had to be cut off and he needed stitches.

He said that the injury had left him with crippling hand pain and had prevented him from working again.

Mr Darg, 39, of Meopham, Kent, had to undergo an HIV test, which proved negative, and developed complex regional pain syndrome, which led to him giving up work in February 2004.

He claimed £1 million in compensation, saying that the injury prevented him from living a normal life.

The Metropolitan Police admitted liability but strongly disputed the extent of his injury and the amount of damages. Lawyers for the Met accused Mr Darg of wanting “a quick bit of cash”.

They showed the court secretly filmed DVD footage of Mr Darg shopping in a DIY store, walking his children to school and shooting an air rifle in a competition as evidence.

However, the judge, Sir Robert Nelson, said that the DVDs did not prove that Mr Darg did not suffer a disability as a result of the accident. He said that a number of the attacks on Mr Darg’s credibility were without substance.

The judge said that Mr Darg had made a better recovery than he had described in court, but he had suffered with a genuine disability and had never pretended to have symptoms that did not exist.

He considered that Mr Darg was entitled to damages for the lacerations, the anxiety about HIV, and the painful condition in his left hand which had spread to his right hand and feet. It did not, however, stop him from driving, using a computer, walking or enjoying his hobby of shooting, the judge said He said it was not likely that Mr Darg would ever return to full-time work but he should, in three years’ time, be able to earn two thirds of his pre-accident capacity.

The award was made up of compensation for past and future loss of earnings plus a sum of £32,500 for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. The Met will also pay legal costs of about £100,000.

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