HR consultant seeks £4.2m after pub fall
A HUMAN resources consultant is demanding £4.2 million in damages after she fractured her wrist tripping over a rope outside a gastropub.
Carmen Mazo, 43, stumbled over a low marker rope in a beer garden at The Westbourne in Notting Hill, west London, which is run by the artist Sebastian Boyle.
She claims the injury in August 2009 destroyed her high-earning career.
Ms Mazo sued the pub’s operators and, after they admitted liability, was awarded £156,871 at Central London county court in 2013. The judge rejected her claim for more than £4.2 million, finding Ms Mazo’s injury was not bad enough to justify her giving up her work. However, she has now been granted permission to take her claim to the Appeal Court.
In a statement, Ms Mazo said the accident and the resulting arthritis had robbed her of everything she had built up during her working life.
She would have expected to earn £700-a-day by now, she said, but will have to start again in another career. It has also had a devastating impact on her mental health and social life, she claims. “The fact that I have been left with major scarring on my wrist, which to an unsympathetic observer might look like I am prone to self-harm, is very distressing for me.”
She said the injury had left her prone to sudden mood swings, adding: “I do not think that I will ever be my old self again.”
Ms Mazo was off work for several months after the accident but returned, only to leave for good three years later.