A CLASSROOM assistant has won “substantial” compensation, after she suffered a slipped disc while carrying lunches.

Yvonne Macklin was helping a colleague lift a heavy, insulated box, filled with food, when she felt a sudden pain in her back.

She has been unable to work since the accident, at Monkwick Infant School, Colchester, in March 2006, which speeded up the progress of a degenerative spinal condition.

After she started a compensation claim, backed by the GMB union, her employer, Essex County Council, agreed to settle out of court.

The amount she has been awarded has not been revealed, although the GMB said it was a “substantial sum”.

Mrs Macklin, 48, said she needed crutches and walked with a limp after the incident.

She said: “I am in constant pain, which means, at the moment, I am unable to work.

“I try hard to carry on with life as normal, but I have a 13-year-old son and I’m aware there are things I can no longer do with him, like cycling.”

GMB spokesman Rose Conroy claimed the injury had brought on Mrs Macklin’s back problems five years earlier than expected.

She added: “As a result, she has lost out on years of employment.

“Employers must make sure every job involving lifting, no matter how small, is assessed, to make sure it is conducted in the safest way possible.”

Essex County Council declined to comment, as it has a policy of not discussing individual cases.