Danny Malone v Eastern Counties Linen and the Lord Byron Hotel trial before HHJ Duddridge at Chelmsford Justice Centre 14-16 May 2025

Andrew McLaughlin of 12KBW appeared for the Lord Byron Hotel instructed by Chris Murray of Clyde & Co on behalf of Aviva.

The Claimant, Mr Malone, who was employed by Eastern Counties Linen as a delivery driver, fell down an external staircase which was over 100 years old leading to the basement of the Lord Byron Hotel, a Victorian building in West London.

He was carrying 2 bags of linen weighing around 20kg at the time. The linen room was in the basement. He suffered a nasty fracture dislocation of the ankle which required surgery and will mean he needs an ankle fusion in the next 5 to 10 years.

He alleged the staircase was dangerous for the purpose for which he was required to use it, and the Hotel were in breach of an agreement with his employer that he should be allowed to use the lift. He sued the Hotel under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 arguing the stairs were unsafe for the purposes of delivering linen and his employer for negligence at common law on the basis they had failed to inform him that they had agreed with the Hotel the means of access was via a lift. The claim was defended in full by both the employer and the Hotel.

After a 3-day trial HHJ Duddridge held the Claimant had failed to prove that the staircase was dangerous or that he had fallen due to any dangerous feature of it. He agreed the staircase was to be judged by the standard of a typical external staircase of the same vintage. He held it was unremarkable for its age with only minor defects. He held the Hotel were not negligent in requiring him to use it instead of the lift because it was not dangerous. He held the claimant could not prove his fall was due to any defect.

The Claimant admitted when cross examined by Andrew, he could not identify the step on which he fell or why he fell and that hitherto he had not thought the staircase was unsafe. He only felt that way with the benefit of hindsight. The Claimant admitted he was able to manage the bags of linen comfortably and he had used similar staircases on many other deliveries. He admitted his accident was not due to a lack of training. His counsel abandoned all allegations against his employer of a breach of the Manual Handling Regulations 1992 in closing submissions. The judge agreed that the Hotel were entitled to expect the Claimant would exercise care in the exercise of his calling as a delivery driver pursuant to section 2(3) of the 1957 Act.

The claim was dismissed in its entirety.