Legal News

7-year-old awarded £3,000 pub injury compensation

13/08/2010

A 7-year-old girl whose finger was fractured after trapping it in a cupboard door has been awarded £3,000 personal injury compensation by her family’s local pub.

Caitlyn Ratcliffe needed hospital treatment after one of her fingers became trapped in a storage cupboard’s door as it closed behind a member of staff.

The Plough Inn in Alsager had a partnership with Wacky Warehouse, a well-known activity organisation, to provide a play area for young children while parents spent their time at the bar.

Caitlyn and her friends were in an upstairs room above the Wacky Warehouse enclosure when a member of staff had gone into the storage cupboard and, when they moved away from the door, it automatically shut.

Caitlyn, who had been leaning against a wall, had her middle finger slightly in the door frame and it became trapped, leading to immediate infection and reduced dexterity.

"The door shut by itself. It really hurt when it shut on my finger and I was upset. And when I was at school, I couldn't write," she told her local paper.

After a course of antibiotics and almost a year’s recovery time, Caitlyn has finally got full use of her middle finger back.

Pub chain Punch Taverns agreed to pay Caitlyn £3,000 after her parents took the firm to Stoke-on-Trent County Court demanding compensation.

"I'm glad it's all over but we didn't do this for the money,” added Caitlyn’s dad, Alan Ratcliffe. “We just wanted the company to realise something had to be done."