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

The HSE, as far as I am aware, cover H&S of staff at work, not customers.

That's a bit harsh. Perhaps she wants to avoid the restaurant's negligence killing the next baby that visits?

That isn’t what it says - the manager accepting there was an issue doesn’t mean they knew beforehand. It means they saw something was obviously amiss and admitted it.

As said lots of times your son is not injured, do no harm caused. Courts don't really care about what could have happened. Also, even if you could prove negligence on their part, you also have a duty of care to your son and you should have checked the chair was safe before you put him in it.

The fact that they didnt offer you any gift,vouchers, free meal- is just appaling.

No problem at all and I forgot to say but I hope you are okay. Having gone through something similar when my child was a baby I can completely understand what you’re going through and the repeated replay of it happening and the ‘what if this had happened’ scenarios that go through your head after it has happened. But you will put it behind you and stop thinking about it soon.

I would pick my child up, make sure they are okay, give them cuddles. Then I'd write to the restaurant and outline the situation, get reassurance they have taken steps that this won't happen again. If there are any costs you have incurred as a result of the incident, you could ask them for compensation for those. Otherwise, I'd just be glad my child was okay.

I'm not sure what you could sue for, given there was no damage. Also, do you really want to add the nuisance of legal proceedings to your life? Surely you're busy enough? Your son will have a lot of scrapes in his life, as kids who explore and grow do. Will your father want someone to be held to account every time? (Granted this one was preventable and should never have happened).

Where did I mention I want to ruin them and put them out of business?

According to the Ikea website the chairs ARE suitable for babies the OPs childs age as long as they can sit up unaided.

No they were likely suggesting the staff turned a blind eye to it because they were too busy or couldn’t be bothered to address it and hoped it would be fine.

Sorry this happened to your son, OP. This is horrendous, the restaurant are completely at fault and it could have been much much worse. I completely understand your shock and am flabbergasted at the people on this thread minimising what has happened. I would speak to a solicitor anyway.

A 3 legged chair is not an accident FFS.

Send a letter before action asking for £500 for distress, and if they don’t send you an acceptable amount file a county court action for negligence (they have a duty of care to see their furniture is adequate condition) using the small claims track. The fee for a £500 claim is £50. No costs are awarded against the losing party so you cannot lose more than your court fee and your time.

They should probably settle with you; if they have to pay a solicitor to defend the case that will cost them much more than £500 and they cannot recover it even if they win. If they don’t want to engage a solicitor then they will have to pay a member of staff to go to court which they are unlikely to want to do.

Agree. Or if it was broken, taken out of the seating area or at least a sign saying ‘do not use’ so other staff are aware.

Those high chairs have a button to click the leg into place, so it couldn’t have just fallen off

I think the intrusive thought of it being potentially much worse is the thing making me most upset now the initial shock is over! My heart felt like it was beating out of my chest, could’ve been sick

It was extremely negligent to provide a high chair with a leg missing. I think you should ask for compensation for the stress to you and pain to your child. Consider how much you want and ask for it. And report them to the HSE.

What is it exactly that you are wanting money for? If your son has been shown to need ongoing medical care due to injuries directly attributable to the fall, and you have to give up work, then yes do sue.

Some years ago, a hospital almost killed me, and that was 5+ years of going through a very long winded legal process with much evidence of me suffering great harm and being unable to work for that period, and I still got absolutely raked over the coals and received only a small amount of compensation.

I doubt your dad can make the claim on your behalf.

From your more recent posts it sounds like you are going to aim for a PTSD-type thing, which I still don't think you'd succeed at.

You can’t claim for distress.

It doesn't remotely work like that. I've been through the process and you don't just get to demand what you think you're entitled to. So far from the truth it's unreal.

You can claim for anything you like.

Oh sure. But you’ll get struck out. And if the other side’s solicitors warned you but you ignored it and carried on you’d quite likely have to pay costs, even on the small claims track.

I'm sorry, but you also should've checked! I've never put my child into a high chair without pulling it out and giving it a wiggle.

Yes, get that now, I feel terrible enough

You can ask. They may say no , or negotiate. They might prefer that to being sued.

This sounds like negligence by the restaurant, it wasn’t an accident.

I wouldn’t sue but a stinking letter would be going their way. Maybe if I was feeling really angry after a week or so, I would leave a review, at the very least to get the other parents to be wary.