Incident Report: Carol Tedstone

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Carol Tedstone slipped on a pool of water on non-slip tiles near a jacuzzi at the Thoresby Hall Hotel & Spa ('the Hotel') swimming pool on 23 March 2004.

The jacuzzi was located at the end of the swimming pool. It had drainage grills around the water's edge and then a raised plinth with a guardrail around most of it. The Hotel accepted that some areas around the jacuzzi held water instead of letting it drain away, and this had been scheduled to be remedied later that year. There had been no previous accidents where Mrs Tedstone fell. However, there were reports of slips in other areas around the jacuzzi. The Hotel had tried to use mats to reduce the risk, but these had been removed, as they increased the risk of tripping. The area was squeeged every hour. There was no evidence the jacuzzi had malfunctioned. No criticism was made of the tile type around the jacuzzi. 

The key findings of May LJ were as follows:

1. The accident occurred in a place where water had not gathered before. 
2. The pooled water had not been seen in the five minutes before the accident. 
3. The pooled water must have appeared only two to three minutes before the accident. 
4. It is likely no reasonable system of inspection would have dealt with the pooled water in the time available. 

References

Tedstone v Bourne Leisure Ltd (t/a Thoresby Hall Hotel & Spa) [2008] EWCA Civ 654. 

Citation. Jacklin, D. 2024. Incident Report: Carol Tedstone. Water Incident Research Hub, 15 September.