A care worker who won a court action hailed as a landmark ruling after she was injured on "an ­errand of mercy" has seen the decision overturned by appeal judges.

Tracey Kennedy fell and injured her wrist as she made her way to the home of a terminally ill, housebound woman in the Crookston area of Glasgow in the harsh winter of December 2010 in freezing cold and snowy conditions.

Ms Kennedy, from Pollok, subsequently raised a damages claim against Cordia (Services) LLP who she worked for as a carer.

She sued the employer, of Port Dundas Business Park, for £150,000 in an action at the Court of Session in Edinburgh in which liability was contested.

The case came before Lord McEwan on the ­issue of liability and last year the judge found in favour of Ms Kennedy, 45.

Lord McEwan said the accident victim was an errand of mercy when she slipped and could not be said to have embarked on a risky course of action.

It was claimed that Cordia were in breach of duty by failing to provide, instruct in the use of and ensure that Ms Kennedy used attachments to be worn over footwear to give a better grip in snowy and icy conditions.

But Cordia appealed against Lord McEwan's decision and three judges at the Court of Session have now found in favour of the employer.Lord Brodie said that the first ruling had lacked "a balancing of both sides of the argument with a view to determining whether it would be fair, just and reasonable to find there to be a duty of care of the scope contended for".

He said: "Had he done so I cannot see how he could have failed to reject Ms Kennedy's contention that Cordia were under a common law duty to determine exactly what their competent adult employees should wear on their feet when negotiating the streets of Glasgow in the various conditions which might be foreseeable.

"A duty of this sort ­appears to me to be an unwarranted intrusion into the private lives of adults who within the sphere of day-to-day living are likely to be better placed to make judgements as to what will be conducive to their health and safety when walking the streets than their ­employers will be."