SOAP STAR IN A LATHER
Judge rules against actress over claim for ‘botched’ hot tub repair
WHEN Georgia Slowe’s hot tub sprung a leak no one could have imagined fixing it would turn out to be quite such a performance.
The former soap star and Royal Shakespeare Company member got in a lather about what she claimed was a botched job, sued the workmen and ended up centre stage in a court drama.
Miss Slowe, who played lady of the manor Perdita Hyde-Sinclair in Emmerdale, told a judge the work left the tub in her £4million home in a ‘horrible mess’ of ‘filthy rubbery glue’.
She then discovered it was leaking again two months later, and sued Hot Tub SOS for breach of contract, claiming they had promised her a permanent fix and no more leaks.
But the company insisted Miss Slowe had asked them to fix her tub with glue as a ‘cheaper option’ because she ‘didn’t want to pay’ the £600 it would cost to have a leaking part replaced.
They did not promise the repair would be permanent and did it for free, they told Central London County Court. Hot Tub SOS’s Chris Perry said the actress had brought ‘a bit of a spurious claim’.
Miss Slowe, 53, claimed she had been given an ‘absolute assurance’ that gluing was a permanent cheap fix and told Judge Ian Avent: ‘I wouldn’t have gone for it if it was going to happen again. Why would I do that? It would have been completely idiotic and I’m seriously not an idiot.’
But the judge threw out the claim, saying Hot Tub had done its work at her home in Hampstead, north-west London, with ‘care and skill’ and ‘followed the instructions they were given’.
The court heard that the leak had caused water to get into the tub’s pump and electrics, which needed to be replaced at a cost of more than £1,000.
Engineers told the judge they also told Miss Slowe that to stop the leak would cost an additional £600. After she told them she wouldn’t pay the extra, they ‘reluctantly suggested’ the silicone glue fix. Engineers wrote a disclaimer on the invoice saying the fix was not guaranteed beyond 28 days/ It was signed by the actress’s husband Stuart McClymont.
When the leak reappeared she demanded the work be redone by Hot Tub SOS for free and, when they asked for a call-out fee, got another firm. She then claimed thousands in damages for repairs and reimbursement.
Of the receipt signed by her husband she said: ‘My husband didn’t read it, he just signed.’
Judge Avent said: ‘It has been established law for 100 years now that a person is bound by their signature, whether they read the document or not.’ No costs orders were made.
‘I’m seriously not an idiot’