Christmas pudding and the patio heater

[Sally090807]

So my son went out on a pub crawl with some friends, they all decided to dress up in Christmas jumpers etc.
Half way through the night they stopped off in a pub beer garden when the guy dressed as a Christmas pudding fell and hit the patio heater which fell and smashed. It was a pyramid shaped one so possibly electric?
The pub landlady came running out with a card reader and said you’re not leaving as I’ve only had that a couple of weeks and then demanded £200 or threatened to call the police if they didn’t pay (no concern if anyone was hurt) so the lads all chipped in and paid.
So should the patio heater of been secured properly and covered by insurance or the lads should of been more careful and were right to pay up.

That's part of running a business, though, and I say that as a business owner. It's not the customers' responsibility to pay for breakages and damages - that's why businesses have insurance.

A patio heater should be secured so that it can't fall and get broken like that anyway, IMO. Having it loose like that is dangerous and an accident waiting to happen.

If they had done it on purpose I would have expected them to pay. As it was an accident I don’t think they should have paid. If you run somewhere open to the public, accidental damage happens.

I think a Christmas pudding outfit, if it’s one of those ones that sticks out a ways, requires a lot of care if you’re going to wear it in crowded spaces. A lot more care than I would normally expect of college age lads going drinking at Christmas. So even if they weren’t larking about and he just knocked it over because he didn’t realise how much further away from it he needed to be because of the costume, I actually think that’s somewhat poor behaviour. Understandable, as he’s still pretty young and it’s hard to appreciate that something that just seems fun is not actually a good idea at one of the busiest times of the year, but still poor.

So I don’t think the landlady was necessarily wrong to ask for them to pay for it.

Well if you're not even sure how it happened, how can we say if it's fair or not.

Of course students can be drunk at 8pm...pre-drinks!

No , but the LL asked and they did pay @thelobsterquadrille , isn't that preferable to claiming on your insurance?
They sound good decent lads to me

From a financial viewpoint, sure. And I agree, they sound like good people, but I also think the LL took advantage of them.

They're students and drank too much - as far as we know they weren't violent or aggressive, one of them just stumbled and broke something, and the LL responded by threatening to call the police if they didn't give her £200.

I bet she wouldn't have responded that way if it was a middle-aged couple who'd broken it, or an elderly customer.

I’m really disappointed that this thread isn’t discussing the viability of heating your Christmas pudding with the patio heater.

The landlord is responsible for making sure equipment is correctly installed. They should have told her to go ahead and call the cops. Accidental damage is a civil matter not a criminal matter.
Although if this lad had fallen on the heater and sustained burns the landlady could have found herself in serious trouble

I agree. If it were me I would have told her to call the police so they could tell her it was a civil matter. Any sympathy I had would have been gone if she threatened me with the police. I very much doubt she’d have threatened the other groups you mention.

We'll never know that @thelobsterquadrille anyway it's reassuring to know that some people take responsibility for their actions

Yep!

That made me laugh 😂😂
Hope everyone here has a lovely Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2023. x

If you break someone else's property because you are drunk/larking about/a clumsy clot, it is fair that you should pay for it. It's sweet that all the others chipped in though.

It would have been under the excess of the insurance so would gsbe been out of the business's own pocket.

Legally, whether they pay or not depends on whether they have been negligent in breaking it

It also depends on whether the item was installed safely to begin with.

Being drunk and messing around is one thing, but business owners are still responsible for keeping things safe and secure.

If it could be knocked over that easily, I would argue that it wasn't safe and shouldn't have been there at all.

I'm pretty certain they only paid because they were scared she was going to call the police and get them arrested.

If you're a business owner you need to take precautions to make your property safe. That includes making sure patio heaters can't fall over easily and break!

This is why businesses have insurance and pubs should expect drunk people on their premises....

I would not have paid!

I think that it was unfortunate and a pain in the ass for the landlady, but that she is unreasonable to ask for money for it. That is what insurance is for.

I agree with this.

I suspect she was taking advantage of the fact they were young and a bit naïve.
Of course I wasn't there, and nor were any of us.
But presuming this was an accident - even if they were a bit on the tiddly side - she factors that kind of money into running the business. Especially a business where she is selling the stuff that makes people tiddly, or even roaring drunk.

Yes, stereotypically a group of students were quite likely to be acting a bit differently with their mates than when out with their parents, but also, accidents do happen, and people do trip over chair legs or shoelaces when stone cold sober. None of us know.

She had a choice to refuse entry to the puffing. Once he was allowed in, she accepted the risk of his chunky outfit.

Um, no, the dicks were your son and his friends. They should be careful with other people’s property.

Just because it’s a pub doesn’t mean you can trash it.

Need a lawyer to confirm, but I’m pretty sure if he didn’t take reasonable care then he could be liable. The landlady letting him in in a costume doesn’t mean he isn’t required to take reasonable care in it.

Though I agree with other posters too that there is a big question over whether the heater should have been bolted down or otherwise better secured, which we have no details on.

Well if he was that drunk perhaps they should have stopped supplying him with drink some while beforehand?

They accidentally knocked over something, hardly trashing the place.

Bit of a leap there.

Someone fell over and bumped into something. You seem to be reading a different thread.