British Airways was found liable for the accident although Swiss national Andreas Wucher will only receive 80 percent of the value of his claim following the ruling of a judge
A business boss who sued for more than £5million after he slipped on a puddle of spilled Bailey’s liqueur at Heathrow Airport has won his compensation fight against British Airways.
Coffee connoisseur Andreas Wuchner – a Swiss national – will, however, see his pay-out slashed as he was rushing, but insisted on last-minute latte macchiatos before boarding his flight. Mr Wuchner was partly to blame for his own accident, having chosen to stop and get “proper coffee” from Starbucks, rather than getting on his plane when other passengers were boarding.
As a result, he was late and rushing whilst balancing four coffees and did not see the spilt booze on the airport floor, Judge David Saunders said. But the judge also found the accident could have been avoided if BA staff had taken care to cover or cordon off the spillage, or to warn passengers it was there.
He found that BA was liable for the accident but said that Mr Wuchner would receive only 80 per cent of the value of his claim, once assessed, due to his “contributory negligence.” During a trial at Central London County Court, the judge heard that Mr Wuchner, then 35, was in London on a business trip when he was injured in November 2017.
The businessman – who ran an office supplies company – had spent a day with contacts and an evening in a lounge at Wembley Stadium, and was heading back to Zurich via Heathrow when he had his accident. He had already missed one flight due to traffic and rebooked, but told the judge that, due to long security queues, he and his business partner were the last to the boarding gate.
But BA barrister Tom Bird said that, despite being the last to arrive with all the other passengers already on the flight, Mr Wuchner had gone to buy extra coffees for the flight from a Starbucks counter. It was in rushing to the boarding gate, with only 15 minutes to go before his plane was due to take off, that he slipped in the Baileys while carrying a tray containing two espressos and two latte macchiatos.
When asked why he decided to get coffee so close to departure, he told the judge: “I really enjoy a proper coffee out of a coffee machine, rather than the normal airport coffee, which is why I went to Starbucks. I went as quickly as possible to the boarding gate, bearing in mind I had four coffees in my hand. I wasn’t running, but I went as quickly as I could. I was walking swiftly, bearing in mind the safety of my coffee cups.”
He said he headed towards the BA desk and slipped in the Baileys, flipping two metres in the air, sending the coffee cups flying and hitting his head on the floor. He recalled: “I was told I went two metres in the air, that’s what was said to me. I was told that I did a backwards jump and did two metres in the air.”
Mr Bird argued that BA should be exonerated from liability for the accident because Mr Wuchner was at fault, but his KC Sarah Prager insisted that the accident should not have happened at all. Had airline staff done more to prevent a slip by covering up the puddle, cordoning it off, or warning passengers, he probably would not have been hurt at all.
Giving judgment, Judge Saunders said both Mr Wuchner, due to his desire for proper coffee rather than aeroplane drinks, and the airline was at fault. “He was ‘moving swiftly’ to catch his flight – a matter he was prepared to concede,” he said. “He was late. He had made himself late by his own design, and by his own admission, in buying coffees when it may have been more sensible to simply board the plane.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it was probably not the best decision that he has ever made, and one that he now surely regrets.” He continued: “It seems inevitable that, through his delay and attempt to obtain last-minute coffees, the claimant had placed himself under greater pressure to board the flight in time, having missed his earlier flight, and been delayed in security.
“It is a likely scenario that he was anxious to catch his flight, and that the pressure he had imposed upon himself had made that pressure even greater. That, in my view, contributed to the accident. In my view, as soon as Mr Wuchner placed himself in this pressure situation, he placed himself in a position whereby he was contributing to the accident by, proportionally, not taking sufficient care.
“It is likely, and I accept that BA has demonstrated this, that he has not taken as much care as he should reasonably have been expected to, that it is likely that he did not pay full attention to his path and that he did not take into account the extent and effect of the items that he was carrying.” But finding BA mostly to blame, he continued: “I do find it unusual that no immediate steps were taken by anyone from BA to prevent an accident.
“Nothing appears to have been placed over the spillage to cover it up. That may have been simply because nothing was available, but it is surprising that this situation could not have been dealt with, at least temporarily, until all the passengers had boarded.” Staff had been waiting for Heathrow’s cleaners to arrive, but should have had “procedures in place to avoid the accident, to provide safety, and to temporarily alleviate the situation.”
“I have found that it was within the gift of BA’s employees to ensure that the area was safe, and that they should have done this to satisfy passenger safety, subject to the contributory negligence that I have found, so as to provide a safe area which I consider fell well within their duties in the roles that they were assigned to.”
The court heard that BA hotly contests Mr Wuchner’s £5million valuation of his claim, denying that the injuries he sustained ruined his business and left him unable to work. The value of his payout will be decided at another trial at a later date unless agreed.
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
