Scout claims £200k for her horrific burns in campfire accident
A TEENAGER is claiming £200,000 in damages from the Scout Association after suffering horrific burns in a campfire accident three years ago.
Camille de Maximy suffered permanent scarring at the age of 15 after being engulfed by flames when a fellow girl Scout poured methylated spirit on a fire in an attempt to get the flames to take hold.
The teenager – now 18 – was airlifted to hospital and spent almost a month being treated for severe burns to her neck, body and legs. After undergoing a series of operations and skin grafts, court papers say Miss de Maximy is still disfigured. She also claims to have suffered from low confidence and has been forced to give up hobbies including tennis and dance because of her injuries.
Miss de Maximy and her 48-year- old mother Isabelle – who works as a French tutor – are suing the Scout Association for alleged negligence in the way they supervised the overnight camping trip. Lawyers for the teenager said the associaincluded tion – originally started for boys but which currently caters for 150,000 girls – failed in its duty of care.
Miss de Maximy, who lives in Bromley, south-east London, was part of Bromley’s 25th Scout group when the accident happened. She had gone on the trip as part of her training for a Scouts award.
She was with two friends when they visited a rural activity centre in nearby Downe for an overnight camp that the use of a stove and fire. Lawyers say one of the girls poured methylated spirit, which was used to fuel the camping stoves they were using, on to the fire.
Scout leaders are accused of not warning the girls of the dangers of using methylated spirit but in a statement the Scout Association said: ‘The incident arose out of the voluntary decision to put methylated spirit on the fire in breach of an express instruction to the contrary.’ No date has been set for a hearing.