We’re suing park after slide horror left me paralysed
EXCLUSIVE
A BRITISH tourist left paralysed after plunging into a swimming pool from a water slide is suing the owner of a holiday park after claiming the chute was “too steep”.
Greenkeeper David Briffaut, 23, is claiming at least £300,000 damages after suffering two broken vertebrae when he slid head first down the “dangerous” attraction.
At 6ft 4in and 14st, Mr Briffaut claims the “unsafe” design ensured he hit the water too quickly and with too much force.
Phone footage of the accident at Aqualandia in Benidorm, Spain, went viral last July. Mr Briffaut has issued a writ, accusing Aqualandia of negligence for allowing him to use the slide without an instructor.
Risk
His legal papers allege the operator failed in its duty to “exercise reasonable care and skill” in the slide’s design, construction, management and operation”.
It adds: “Where a person manages a leisure attraction which creates a risk of harm to users then they are likely to be held liable to visitors when that risk materialises.”
They say the keen sportsman and county level golfer is now tetraplegic and will struggle to find work because of his injuries.
Mr Briffaut, of Benfleet, Essex, visited Aqualandia – with its pools, slides, rides and lush gardens – with girlfriend Penny Bristow, to celebrate finishing her degree.
His legal documents say the couple went down a multi-track slide called “Splash” head first, lying on their stomachs on a mat provided.
Mr Briffaut accelerated down the final stretch and flew off into the water at “considerable speed”.
The documents add: “He
David Briffaut and his girlfriend Penny Bristow on the slide at the holiday park in Benidorm. Right, the couple before the accident
appeared to tip forward over the slide mat and to make contact with the water with the back of his neck.”
Mr Briffaut ended up face down in the water and had to be helped out by a friend, before lifeguards took him to the medical room on a trolley. He was initially taken to a local hospital before being flown to England in an air ambulance.
His writ claims the slide had “too steep a gradient”, so someone of his “height and weight” would “achieve an unsafe velocity in
descending”. It says there were no signs providing “adequate instruction on how to use the slide safely” and the operator failed to ensure staff were there to advise him.
Afterwards, he was allegedly moved without proper evaluation of his injuries and the company failed to provide access for lawyers to examine the site.
Mr Briffaut’s injuries are still being assessed, but he is seeking provisional damages, allowing him to return to court if his condition worsens. After his repatriation, Ms
Bristow set up a JustGiving site which has raised more than £80,000 towards the cost of his medical bills.
She is also running the London marathon in April to raise money for the Matt Hampson Foundation, which helps other people with spinal injuries.
The charity, set up by ex-English rugby prop Hampson after he was paralysed in a 2005 scrum accident, helped Mr Briffaut cope with his injuries.
Ms Bristow, 22, says on her fundraising page: “We would now like to give something back to them. Not only do we want to support David, who inspires us every single day with his courage and determination, but also other people living with spinal injuries.”
Yesterday, Mr Briffaut’s mother Lorraine, who helped him bring the claim, declined to comment.
But immediately after the accident, she said: “You feel that your life has stopped. You feel that your life has been completely turned upside down.
“It’s horrible, it’s horrendous.”