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

All those of you saying that the baby wasn't harmed did you miss the bit where he hit his head on the floor from a 3 foot height, was marked by this, and had to go to hospital to get checked over. Of course he was harmed!

I've just looked up the IKEA Antilopl since you said it was that one and don't quite understand. Did it have the tray table attached? You said it didn't (so was it not the Antilopl?) and said it was pushed up against the table. But if it was pushed up against the table, without the tray table, you would have needed to move it out at least a bit in order to get your son in it. In which case it would have wobbled and you would surely have checked to see why it was wobbly? Who put your son into the chair? Was it your dad and he's now feeling guilty he didn't check why the chair was wobbly?

Obviously the restaurant shouldn't have put a faulty chair at the table, but do you honestly think ANYONE would deliberately put a damaged chair out for a baby? It was clearly an accident and I'd be interested to know what your dad wants to sue for.

Sitting in my dark bedroom, cuddling my son in the quiet, trying to stop replaying the incident over and over in my head.

Decompressing - away from my parents who are up a height and my 5yo DD who was very distressed. She gets very upset when he is poorly etc. when he was 9 weeks old he was hospitalised for 3 weeks due to abscesses on his lymphnodes that required surgery. Seeing her baby brother so poorly and being away from her parents/usual routine affected her a lot.

Hope this helps you understand a little

No didn’t have the tray table, the legs were under the table but the seat was not. We were able to sit him in it without moving it. Promise you, we would not have put him in it if we noticed a leg missing!

DH put him in the chair not my dad

Did not. Spoke calmly. Asked for manager only, no shouting involved. Hope this helps you

No, none of that helps me understand at all why you would be, right now, posting on MN for “next steps”. If you are in the UK, I don’t think you have a claim, for anything.

I get you’re upset about it. I’d be very upset and shocked too. But unless you’re looking for a big pay day here, I’m not sure what you and your dad are looking for. If me, I would probably send a very strongly worded email to the manager suggesting that whilst your baby is fine, it could have ended differently, and that extra training should be provided to waiting staff to check the safety of the high chairs as part of their daily prep/set up. My expectation would be that the manager send an apology and reassurance that staff would be reminded of their responsibilities in respect of checking chairs/highchairs. I assume that if the restaurant is decent and genuine in their apology that they might also offer a free meal or a bottle of wine. I think your dad got over the shock and then saw pound signs. We live in a compensation culture, and there are genuine cases where a large cheque pay out might be appropriate, but this isn’t one of them. Sounds like you’re very aware of ‘next steps’, and you are setting the scene beautifully, from the stressed mum sitting in the dark in emotional turmoil, to snippets how your elder dc may be traumatised too due to previous health issues your baby had. You don’t need to ask MN, youre already putting together the scenario yourself.

What harm? A red mark isn’t quantifiable as an injury causing economic loss.

I'm sorry you've had such a fright OP. My son fell forwards out of a pushchair when the harness did not clip tight (my fault), he whacked his forehead but was OK other than a red mark and a bump yet I can still remember the panic and he is now late-30s!
I suspect, as others have said, there may be no financial resolution other than goodwill gestures but I would expect, at least, an investigation into who put the chair there, how and why, etc plus assurances they will learn from this
In the kindest possible way I would also suggest you don't let your Dad push this any way you do not want it to go. By all means take advice but don't be railroaded

A horrendous shock for all of you and thankfully your little one is ok, but no I don’t think pursuing legally is appropriate. I would want written acknowledgment / apology from the venue though.

I’ve recently dealt with an issue where a mistake (not H&S related) was made at my work and we’ve recompensed some out of pocket expenses the client incurred, sent an honest explanation of how it occurred and a 6 point breakdown of how we’re ensuring it won’t happen again (truthfully, not just lip service).

Of course, I just think because the high chair was not lopsided, checking for a missing leg would never occur to me. But it will me the first thing I check going forward.

I'm horrified that the venue did not at least offer you a free meal and a huge apology. But as everyone has said, there are no grounds to sue.
I understand your father's anger, but it's ill advised to sue. If he insisted then he needs to pay, and lose his money not yours.
I'm glad the baby is fine but it's an awful thing to happen.

To me this isn’t an accident - it’s at the very least carelessness on the part of the restaurant- 3 legs on a high chair!!

🥱

Exactly!

Thank you. This is all the kind of response I wanted. Not sarcasm, blame or to make me feel even worse than I do.

Don’t think we’ll ever be going back so free meal certainly wouldn’t benefit us!

We pursued a valid legal case once (nothing like what happened to your child - so sorry and glad they're ok) with previous homeowners, but, speaking from experience - the only people who really won were the lawyers! I don't think there's anywhere you could really go with this and you could waste a lot of time/energy. You could report it as a H&S issue perhaps? https://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/tell-us-about-a-health-and-safety-issue.htm

OP the good thing here is that your little one will not remember this as he gets older. (Aged 1 one of ours was critically ill, ICU, deaths door, getting ready to say goodbye etc - they remember nothing about it at all and their then 3 year old sibling doesn't remember details either.) You need to be thankful it wasn't a lot worse, check everything when you are out and give yourself time to recover from the shock. Reassure your daughter that her brother is fine and this is not the same as when he was unwell. Big hugs all round!

Right now and here I get the feeling that the private equity company that has bought mumsnet is checking how far they can push inhumane American practices like suing anyone for anything. Are they trying to brainwash the simple English?

Jeez, let it go... it was an accident 🙄

I still think a court would expect some level of diligence before you put your child into the chair though. If you couldn’t pull the chair out then that might be different, but I’m not sure I’d be blameless if I sat in an obviously broken chair and injured myself.

For the avoidance of doubt, I don’t think you are to blame - but if you want to place legal responsibility the hurdle is much higher and I don’t think you pass it.

Thanks very much for this - and to everyone else who suggested H&S or reaching out to the council. Think when I speak to him tomorrow I’ll mention this.

The Antilop tray is detachable (and a separate purchase which restaurants don’t always bother with). We have the same highchair and I assume it fell sideways as the table would have stopped it falling forwards and the angled legs would have stopped it falling backwards. If the front bar was up to the table the seat is still accessible without having to move it out, that’s how we have ours. We ‘load’ DS from behind it.

This must have been so scary in sorry for you all.

Im a barrister. Other posters are correct. Your cause of action would be in personal injury. They have been negligent but without a quantifiable injury which the hurt and red mark is not, there is no legal injury to be compensated for as in broken bone, etc .

Doesn't take away how scary it must have been. Im sorry for you both.

Sorry haven't read all replies, but I don't think providing a high chair with a missing leg can or should be described as an accident. They've been negligent. They have breached their duty of care.

I'd check if they have CCTV of the incident and ensure it's been logged.