Van Wees suffered a head injury and post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) in a road traffic accident whilst riding as a pillion passenger on a motorscooter.

His judgment involved the assessment of the subtle effects of mild brain injury on someone who remained of superior intelligence and capable of achieving high earnings even after her accident.

He also ruled that, whilst not accepting that she was consciously exaggerating her condition, he found that the accident had become "a handy explanation to herself as to the reason for the inability of her career to progress as she had expected it would".

This case therefore also illustrates that a thorough investigation of a claimant's perceived medical condition as well as his or her own personal expectations can make a substantial difference to awards at trial.

The claimant suggested that this meant that a woman will throughout her foreseeable years of employment be at a similar disadvantage to that to which she is now subject, and has been since and despite the Equal Pay Act 1970 which came into force on 29 December 1975.