I shattered my ankle after slipping in on a TUI holiday in Spain – I’m suing for £112,620 but they say it’s my fault
A HOLIDAYMAKER fractured her ankle when she slipped during a TUI holiday, a court heard.
Karen Carey, 64, fell over in a puddle at a hotel juice bar at breakfast on her seven-day package holiday.
She is suing the holiday giant for £112,620 compensation over the accident in January 2016, but TUI said it was her own fault for going to breakfast barefoot.
Karen and her husband were staying at the luxury H10 Taburiente Playa Hotel in Tenerife six years ago when she fell on her backside.
She was left with chronic pain and limited mobility which affected her life and career, Central London County Court heard.
Mrs Carey told the court her weakened mobility forced her to quit a job as a hotel credit controller.
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She said: “My nerves are gone. I’m just a different person since this happened.
“I always wanted to get back to working at the hotel because it was a part of my life. I’d been there 40 years.”
Her barrister Andrew Young added: “Mrs Carey and her husband sat down at a table and the claimant then stood up and started walking towards the area where fruit juice was available in order to obtain a drink.
“As she came near to the area, her feet slipped from underneath her and she fell to the floor twisting her right ankle as she did so.
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“She saw nothing on the floor before she fell, but she noticed that her bottom was wet after she had fallen.
“Her husband was summoned by a waiter immediately after the accident and he also noticed that the floor around the claimant was wet.”
But TUI’s lawyers deny all liability, disputing any liquid was spilled on the floor and suggesting Mrs Carey may be to blame for being in bare feet and not keeping a proper look-out.
Mrs Carey’s barrister said it was accepted that some of her current health problems were caused by “degenerative changes” in her ankle, telling Judge Heather Baucher: “She has been left with significant long term symptoms, which are partly the result of the accident and also partly the result of degenerative, but previously asymptomatic, changes in her ankle”.
But lawyers for TUI insist that most of Mrs Carey’s symptoms have nothing to do with her accident.
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They also say she was fit to return to light work duties work from November 2016 and is currently capable of at least “sedentary” employment.
Judge Baucher has now reserved her decision in the case.
