To want some sort of compensation?

[newmun]

So last wednesday a friend and me went for lunch with our 12 week old babies... before ordering asked waiter to check my dish didnt contain cashew nuts.. he said no! So i went ahead , ordered and started eating. Then felt really unwell, another member of staff then said it did contact cashews. No member of staff apologised. Had stomach pains for days after and an it hy rash which happens everytime. Ive tried contacting several legal firms who tell me it is unlkely to be taken on and i should go to a small claims court. Will i win? Also note my friend paid cash and was given no reciept and i walked out as i was vomiting. No incident report filled either.

This is serious OP. This restaurant obviously doesn’t take allergies seriously at all.

I would report to trading standards and go to the local paper.

You must, must, must report this to trading standards. You only have to glimpse at the news in recent weeks to see the devastation of allergies not being taken seriously.

Please report.

Given all the recent publicity with regards to fatal anaphylaxis to sesame seeds at Pret, this is pretty fucking awful. But I cannot see that you would win a legal case. Trading standards sounds like the way to go.

Complain to the restaurant & trading standards, they don’t seem to be taking this seriously and they should. If you were to pursue a legal claim for a few days stomach pain and itching it wouldn’t be worth much at all and would barely be worth raising a small claim. You’d have to prove negligence against the restaurant. Even if successful a solicitor won’t get their costs from the court, you could agree to pay them a proportion of your compensation (again that would be tiny). I don’t think anyone would take that on, sorry.

I felt so unwell i was vomitting in the toilet and had severe stomach cramps. They were aware i had an allergy before as i told them. I had my 12 week old baby with me who was crying because she wanted to be picked up and i felt awful. I had to walk out. I didnt pay but my friend was charged for her meal and the cappuccino that i hadnt drank.

I think that paying out compensation is going to hurt careless firms more than people dying of allergies when they are misinformed, so no, YANBU. If only for future customers safety.

This happened to my son (gluten) and I was refunded everyone's meal.

I wouldnt want or care about compensation.

I would very much care about it possibly happening to someone else. Report to the council or trading standards or whoever will listen. Put it on social media. Go in and arrange a meeting with the management and/or waiting staff. Allergies are not funny and I would want to be sure they knew how badly this could have gone.

Pine nuts are normally in pesto

You may be reactive to those?

Pine nuts are normally in pesto. You may be reactive to those?

You may have missed this from the OP.

Then felt really unwell, another member of staff then said it did contact cashews.

@newmun it sounds awful and I agree they should be penalised for misinformation this could have been so much worse. I think people are just trying to be realistic in the circumstances you have described legally I don't think there is much anyone can do. You would be better off trying to raise concerns with the appropriate authorities I think.

It is very unlikely that it would be worth claiming compensation, even through the small claims court. A rash and vomiting wouldn’t be considered worth more than a couple of hundred pounds, and you would pay a similar amount to lodge your claim anyway.

Agree with PPs that you should talk to trading standards. And I would be wary of pesto going forwards as most of the commercial stuff uses cashews rather than pine nuts.

be wary of pesto going forwards as most of the commercial stuff uses cashews rather than pine nuts

Just repeating this. People think they know that pesto = pine nuts. You need to check the jar labels as A LOT of bought pestos contain cashews.

Sorry this happened, how scary. I agree that it definitely needs reporting and that there's probably not enough financial loss and minimal pain and suffering (despite the fact it could have been much, much worse) for it to be worth pursuing for compensation.

To be honest if I was allergic to any kind of nut I'd avoid any pesto type dressing completely

I would be more concerned that the restaurant took allergies seriously, rather than asking for financial compensation. There are a lot of things we don't need to copy from the US and this is one of them.

Also, you're very brave to order a dish in a restaurant that's known to sometimes contain the ingredient you have an allergy to. I have allergies and just wouldn't do this. Contamination is a different thing altogether.

I think you're unlikely to get compensation - you'd need to prove loss etc etc etc - but I do think you could help someone else by reporting to Trading Standards and sending a clear letter to the owner about the risks. There will be lower "standards of proof" as it were to get an outcome that way.

And you can go crazy on social media if they are on it anywhere?

Complain to them and trading standards. I have an allergy that can kill me. Same as other people..allergy awareness needs to be addressed there. Also compo for the meal.you paid for if you still paid.

Trading Standards as others have suggested. Cashews have previously caused my ds to suffer anaphylaxis and he was lucky to survive. Unfortunately many people are ignorant about allergies - more than once I’ve had it explained to me that only peanuts can cause a severe enough allergic reaction to kill.