British man gets £90,000 for stroke caused by haircut

LONDON: A British man who suffered a stroke because an artery was damaged during a routine haircut has reportedly received US$ 90,000 in compensation from the salon.

Dave Tyler, a 45-year- old father of two, collapsed two days later during a business meeting, prompting a trip to hospital where a consultant asked him: “Have you had your hair cut recently?”

Tyler had his hair washed and cut at the Headmasters salon in his home town of Brighton, southern England, according to reports in The Times and Mail on Sunday.

Doctors believe an artery was injured when Tyler’s head was bent backwards over the basin to wash his hair, causing a blood clot that led to the debilitating stroke.

He reportedly spent three months in hospital and was left only able to walk with a stick and unable to drive because of blurred vision.

The salon agreed to pay £ 90,000 ( US$ 114,000) after Tyler’s lawyers claimed it had failed to adequately protect his head during the visit in 2011.

The salon referred AFP’s questions about the case to the headquarters of Headmasters, a chain, but no one was immediately available for comment.

According to The Times, similar incidents have been previously recorded in medical journals, and the newspaper cited two other cases of so- called “beauty parlour syndrome”.

In January 2014, mother oftwo Elizabeth Smith reportedly had a stroke after visiting a salon in San Diego, in the United States. — AFP