Nurse left scarred by scalding tea on Ryanair ... but the airline blames her
RYANAIR was yesterday accused of adding insult to injury after it blamed a passenger for a hot tea spill that left her leg scarred.
Val Tredget’s weekend away in Hungary with her two sisters was ruined because the scalding drink caused painful blisters and left dark red scars.
But she was most upset by a ‘patronising’ email the airline sent when she complained about the medical treatment she received.
While Mrs Tredget insists she never handled the drink and the stewardess spilt it, Ryanair’s customer services wrote: ‘ May we suggest that you take more care when handling hot drinks on board an aircraft.’
The experienced nurse was so angry that she instructed a solicitor and is planning legal action.
Mrs Tredget, who said the tea tipped over when the stewardess was trying to put it on her folddown tray, said: ‘None of us even touched the cup. I jumped up and screamed, “That’s really hot”.’
When she said she was a nurse and knew that she needed cold water to put on the blisters, the stewardess returned with paper towels.
Vital minutes had elapsed by the time she was taken to the back of the plane and given some cooling gel. An attempt was also made to dress the wound.
Mrs Tredget, 51, tried to ease the pain by soaking the paper towels in water from a sink in the toilet, and was eventually given a sick bag filled with ice. When she later asked for it to be replaced, she was told she would have to wait.
‘They were more interested in selling duty-free and scratch cards. It was shambolic,’ she added. Ryanair has since claimed the married mother of two, from Chelmsford, Essex, was offered further medical assistance or to be met by paramedics when the plane landed.
But she denied this, saying she was told only that there was a pharmacy at the airport.
The three sisters flew to Budapest from London Stansted on June 2. Mrs Tredget said: ‘I was having to change my dressings twice a day. The blisters were oozing. Budapest is famous for its spas but we could not go and do anything like that. It ruined my weekend.’
A specialist who examined her leg said the scars may fade over a couple of years. Mrs Tredget waited weeks for a response to two messages of complaint before receiving the terse letter.
Her sister Joyce Thorpe, 64, said: ‘I’m appalled that they are calling Val a liar. She [the stewardess] was definitely putting the cup down but she was multi-tasking and didn’t concentrate.’ Ryanair said the allegations were untrue.
A spokesman added: ‘All hot drinks are served in fully sealed cups with lids securely fixed and this procedure was correctly followed. The customer received first aid … and declined the crew’s offer of further assistance.’