What are the next steps after a restaurant highchair accident?

[BessieBye]

This evening we went to a local restaurant that we go to a fair bit. We had pre booked the table so it was set out with a highchair for my 7 month old DS

About 5 minutes after sitting down, my DH put my son into the highchair. For clarity it was an IKEA highchair with no tray, so the chair was tucked under and his body close to the table.

A minute later, the highchair fell to the floor - with my son in it. Turns out, the highchair only had 3 legs, one had been detached. The front left leg was missing so we did not notice as it was already tucked half under the table.

He fell still in the sitting position within the highchair and hit his head - it has a red mark and we have been to A&E, he’s fine. His chin must’ve missed the table by a cm.

My parents were with us and my Dad is ready to start WW3 and he told them to expect to hear from a solicitor. Manager of restaurant accepted that the leg was missing and it was their fault.

We left very soon after and obviously for me it is all a blur

My question is, will a solicitor actually achieve anything here? Is it worth it? He wants to pursue negligence

I am too shocked to be angry right now, I burst into tears everytime it replays in my head. I thought I was going to be physically sick.

thanks for any advice

Why are so many posters hers failing to see that the restaurant was negligent in its duty to its customers?

I don't think anyone disagrees about that. I think people generally disagree you can sue them for it, since there has been no lasting injury.

Think a few just felt the need to Mum shame if I’m honest!

Right, and which diagnosable psychological condition has OP suggested she or her son had as a result? Do you actually know what that means? What a ridiculous suggestion.

My don was only about 1 when he started his foray into acrobatics. He is 45 on Friday so trust me on this, you will recover. Honestly I think I get more angry if my dog gets hurt...but then he's easier than my son 😄

Does the restaurant belong to a chain or is it an independent?

It’s independent, hugely popular in our city and been around for years.

My post already states the psychological condition

Yes that’s exactly what I’m saying. According to OP the fourth leg was propped up in plain sight where the staff get the menus from.

The PTSD you invented in a reply to another poster as having been diagnosed? Honestly please stop giving “advice”

Ah @BessieBye i think you are getting an undeserved hard time on here for something your dad said about suing and talking to a solicitor

I can imagine it was frightening for you all and am glad to see you looking into advice about reporting to the council and H&S. It really does need reporting and ensuring they’ve logged it in their accident book. There are massive consequences for them if they haven’t

they were really careless/negligent in giving you a broken high chair

hope you are all ok after the shock

If you mean the restaurant can’t recover their costs, that’s wrong, or at least quite likely so.

If the claimant is told they have no case and need to drop it, but carry on, they open themselves up to the prospect of costs even in the small claims court. The courts don’t like unreasonable behaviour and they don’t like chancers.

If the restaurant is awarded its costs for defending an abusive claim it could cost a claimant a few thousand easily.

Solicitor here 🙋‍♀️ unless the injury sustained was severe enough to attract compensation in excess of £1,000 then a solicitor would not take it on. You can only claim for negligence if that negligence has caused a compensatable consequence. It doesnt sound like the injury was serious enough to warrant a claim. You would be best just sending in a Letter of Complaint if you want to make your feelings known.

What would you like to happen? It shouldn't have happened, but it did. So, from where you are now, what would be the best outcome?

PTSD would not be unexpected in the circumstances. This sounds like an extremely traumatic event.

That was quite an answer by the LegalEagle. Suddenly a claim for PTSD is in the air, no doubt backed up by a ‘clinical’ ‘report’ from Aunty Belinda who once volunteered for the St John Ambulance.

You can’t sue if there’s no loss (injury or financial) There’s nothing to sue for!

I can't imagine you'd get true PTSD from this (a label thrown around too lightly these days). If this caused PTSD I'd think there was some other underlying mental health issue driving it.

You can’t claim for what might have happened, only for what did happen.

@LegalEagle23 how on earth do you diagnose PTSD in a 7 month old??

Very sorry to hear about what has happened @BessieBye. I wonder if tomorrow morning will bring a bit of clarity about where to go to prevent a similar accident happening to someone else? I would imagine everyone is tired and wobbly at the moment.

I don’t think this case is likely to end up in court. Costs aren’t awarded against you for writing a sternly worded letter, and it will cost £1.80 to find out what the restaurant’s response is to that is. There’s plenty of time when you have that response to decide what to do. I’m not sure why you’re trying to argue against that.

We will differ amicably as to whether “you left a chair with a missing leg out for my child and he got hurt and taken to hospital” is a “chancer” or not. I think it’s a righteous response to a quite unbelievably negligent situation, myself.

Oh give over. OP is understandably upset and stressed and I have a lot of sympathy for her. But please don’t be daft and suggest she has been or is likely to be diagnosed with a long term psychological condition from it. That just shows how little you understand of such conditions. But I’m certain OP has more common sense that to listen to such a wind up merchant.

Oh stop.

Quite! Their posts combined with their username makes me think they’re just bored of a Saturday night.

People might say they're taking legal action "to make sure it doesn't happen again", but 99 times out of 100 they're only doing so in order to get money.

I'm sure the restaurant management were shocked and upset by what happened, and that alone would be enough to prevent any repetition.

Civil law exists to compensate people who have suffered a significant injury. The child didn't suffer any significant injury, so it doesn't need or deserve financial compensation.

The father sounds like a bit of a plonker to be honest. Just put it down to experience, be grateful the child wasn't seriously hurt, and get on with your life.