One of the group had the idea of putting our wet kit in the boiler room. I asked a young lad where the boiler room was and he pointed towards it. While none of us said we were planning to put our kit in there to dry, it was obvious we were going to.

The door had a sign that said ‘no entry to guests’ but we felt we had implied permission. I went first and couldn’t find a light switch, missed a worn-out step on my way into the partially-basement room, and fell with my hands full of wet kit and MX boots.

I cracked a couple of ribs. At first, the hotel owners couldn’t do enough to help, driving me to A&E which was a good 40 minutes away, and they let me store my bike in a garage and got me to the railway station the next day so I could get a train home. Guilty conscience or acceptance they had done something wrong, I wonder.

I wrote to them politely, asking for compensation for the incurred cost of my train fare home, my ruined tour, van hire and fuel to pick my bike up, and two nights’ lost accommodation, as well as compensation for my injuries.

I got a snooty solicitor’s letter back basically telling me to jog on and mentioning there might be storage charges for my bike. I have done my research and the hotel owner owed me a duty of care under the Occupiers’ Liability Act, under which broken ribs are worth £5000.

My two riding mates have left me high and dry and don’t want to be witnesses. They use the hotel frequently, so value it more highly than me, and they have ditched me from our WhatsApp group.

I have spoken to a few ‘no win, no fee’ solicitors but they don’t seem interested. Should I bring a claim?

Answer

So, let’s break this down. You went – uninvited – through a door you accept was clearly marked as not being for guests. You stepped into an unlit boiler room with your hands full of wet kit, which no one had told you to do, and when you hurt yourself, the owners of the hotel bent over backwards to help you as they are decent human beings, rather than feeling guilty or being worried about getting sued.

The help they gave you will play to their favour in front of any judge. No judge will impute guilt – or indeed anything negative – from this, and as a matter of law the judge cannot impute liability from offers of help. Some people help other people because they are decent human beings.

Your two riding mates have not actually witnessed anything but I don’t blame them for not wanting to help you.

So, your case: I wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole, even if you were paying me privately. No rational solicitor would touch your low-value and quite unmeritorious claim on a ‘no win, no fee’ as your chances of losing are very high. I could construct a case built around the Occupiers’ Liability Act, but in my opinion you would either lose entirely or be found to be largely the author of your own misfortune.

You are an adult who, of their own free will, ignored a sign, had your hands full of kit and stepped into a dark room and came to grief.

For you to win, you will need to show that the care taken by the hotel fell below the standards of keeping it reasonably safe, and in coming to a decision on the facts of your case, the judge will have to determine if what you did ordinarily appreciated the risks and guarded against any special risks.

Finally, you took on the risk of entering a private area for your own benefit and I think your ‘implied permission’ argument is pure nonsense. You cracked some ribs falling down a couple of stairs in a place you shouldn’t have been.

By the way, your £5000 for cracked ribs also needs a collapsed lung. The upper level for some weeks of pain from broken ribs is a maximum of £4000.

In the unlikely event of you partially winning your case, I suspect you would go down heavily for contributory negligence. Please stop tormenting the hotel owners.

Andrew Dalton

RiDE Magaine – January 2024