Generally speaking, unless you work at the restaurant, the law that applies is the Occupiers Liability Act, and this vital piece of legislation dictates that the occupier of a premises, i.e. those in charge or responsible at the restaurant, have a duty to take all reasonable steps to prevent an injury occurring.
When it comes to chairs, what are classed as reasonable steps? Well a system of inspection would be a good start – checking to make sure that the structure of the chairs is stable and ensure there are no breaks or defects to make sure that the chair is not liable to break or collapse. A record of this should be kept as well.
If a problem is spotted, their chair should be taken out of use immediately. If it isn’t, and those in charge of the restaurant are fully aware that there is a problem, that is failing to take reasonable steps. In this sort of scenario, you may have a strong claim.
So if a chair collapses whilst you are enjoying (or complaining about) your meal at a restaurant, whether you can make a claim for personal injury compensation is all about what reasonable steps the other side have taken to prevent an injury. If they never inspect the chairs, or have no proper record of inspections, we can argue that there is no evidence of a reasonable system which can work in your favour.
Other types of common injuries are cuts from defects like sharp edges on a chair.
If you have been injured as a result of a defective chair at a restaurant, we may be able to investigate a claim for personal injury compensation for you on a No Win, No Fee basis. Call our free claims helpline on 0800 634 75 75 today.