Posh restaurant gave me food poisoning — am I entitled to compensation?

Our consumer lawyer answers your questions

I GOT food poisoning when my wife and I went for my birthday dinner at an expensive London restaurant. I was really unwell later that night — my wife not so much — and we reckon it was from a seafood platter we had. My wife paid by credit card. Can we get our money back?

H. V., via email. YES, you can get your money back. You may also be able to claim some compensation, depending on the severity of the food poisoning and the effect it had on you.

The first step is to make a complaint directly to the restaurant, setting out all the relevant details. Include the date you went for dinner, the name the booking was under, what you ordered, and what you think gave you food poisoning. You must also say when you started to feel unwell, what the symptoms were and how long they lasted.

In your letter, say that you have pinpointed the cause of the food poisoning as the seafood platter and that it is a breach of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which states services (such as food preparation) must be carried out with reasonable care and skill.

This means you are entitled to a remedy which, here, is a full refund. There is also a second law that assists you here, called The Consumer Protection Act 1987. This law requires that a food retailer must sell a product that is free from harmful bacteria, meaning if you are able to prove that your food poisoning was caused by the restaurant, it will be held liable for your illness.

In addition, this law does not require that it must be proven that a staff member (typically the chef) was negligent, but only that the cause of the food poisoning was due to unsafe food provided by the restaurant.

This is called ‘strict liability’, and a trader does not want to be on the end of a claim with strict liability. If you want to claim compensation, as well as a refund, it would be preferable to have evidence of how you were affected, such as a letter from a GP.

Also, if you missed work due to this, or if it caused you any other inconvenience, you should obtain evidence to prove it. You will then be claiming compensation for ‘pain and suffering’ and any resulting losses.

Usually, restaurants take these claims seriously, especially if you say you will consult a personal injury solicitor if a satisfactory offer is not made. If the restaurant only offers you a refund initially, make sure you say you are not accepting this as compensation, otherwise the restaurant may say you have ‘settled’ the case. You should also alert your local environmental health department, which will investigate whether the restaurant has breached the Food Safety Act of 1990.

I BOUGHT a new car and when the log book arrived I discovered that I am the second owner. The dealership told me it was a brand new car — what can I do?

N. B., Leatherhead, Surrey. IT SOUNDS as though either the dealership pre-registered the car in its own name, or the car was previously sold and the buyer rejected and returned it, perhaps under their ‘short-term right to reject’ entitlement, as there was something wrong with it. As a prospective buyer you were entitled to know this ‘material’ information before you agreed to purchase the vehicle. The additional owner may impact the car’s future value.

Your next step is to complain in writing to the dealership that there was a breach of the Consumer Rights Act, which says goods must be ‘as described’. The remedy here will be for the dealership to give you some money back to reflect the diminution in value of the vehicle (you can negotiate) or to take the car back and give you a full refund.

The amount the dealership deducts from the price of a car is typically linked to the miles the consumer has clocked up. So if the previous owner had done ten miles, you would not expect any money off. But if it was hundreds of miles you would expect something in the region of £500. This needs to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.

If the dealership denies your claim and fails to tell you who the first owner was, fill out and file a DVLA form V888 to request information about a vehicle and its past and present registered keepers. You can tell the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) that you are building a legal case against a car dealership. Armed with this information, you can make a Section 75 claim if you paid all or part with a credit card, citing that the dealership is in breach of contract.

You can also make a Section 75 claim if you paid via a fixed-sum loan agreement, or you can file a claim with the County Court in the small claims court, if the car was bought for less than £10,000, or the full County Court if the price was greater than this.