Herm’s managers are being sued for £60k
THE company that runs Herm is being accused of negligence and sued for a total of £60,000 by a man who slipped on treated seaweed at Rosaire Steps and broke his kneecap.
John William Stuart is claiming that adequate warning signs were not put up by Herm Island Ltd after sodium hypochlorite bleach had been applied to seaweed at Rosaire Steps in August, 2015.
The case was placed onto the witness list by the Ordinary Division of the Royal Court, meaning that it will be defended.
Court papers filed on behalf of Mr Stuart said he slipped as he was waiting for a ferry back to Guernsey and as a result fell heavily ‘causing him pain, suffering and loss of amenity’.
He suffered a fracture to his left patella which required remedial surgery. After being placed in a cast he was later put into a hinge knee brace.
He needed 10 to 12 weeks ‘in some form of splintage’ and a further six to eight weeks to wean himself out of a brace. He underwent physiotherapy during this time.
Three years later he reportedly has reduced range of motion in his knee and experiences pain and swelling when he undertakes any form of physical activity.
He ‘has been informed that this is now a permanent feature of his life which will not improve over time’.
The documents stated that there should also have been barriers put up to identify the hazardous areas and to stop people crossing them.
It is alleged that the company implemented ‘an archaic, inadequate and ineffective procedure for removing algae from the steps’.
Other breaches claimed are that the the tide was now allowed to wash away any treated algae after the cleaning and before passengers were allowed to cross the ‘problematic areas’; not monitoring the steps continually to see how effective the cleaning had been; not having a member of staff at the steps to continually assess how slippery they were and advise passengers of the danger and guide them around the area; and not operating a risk assessment record or a cleaning schedule log of algae being removed from the steps.
These breaches, said the court papers, are evidenced in reports by Dr Paul Farrell of the University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Marine Sciences prepared in August and October 2015.
Mr Stuart is claiming damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity to the value of £30,000, plus an additional £30,000 in special damages to cover medical treatment, physiotherapy and so on.
Interest and costs are also being sought.
During the court sitting, Advocate David Domaille represented Mr Stuart and Advocate Iona Mitchell appeared for Herm Island Ltd.
The company now has 28 days in which to file its defences to the claim.
