The Mail — A grandmother suing tour operators for £50,000 over a catastrophic fall on holiday has denied she was ‘staggering drunk’ and ‘wearing silly shoes’.
Carole Peters, 60, of Torbay, Devon, suffered head injuries and a fractured right arm when she slipped while going down an external staircase at holiday apartments in Perivolos, Santorini.
Mrs Peter, who denies she is a ‘party animal’, also suffered psychological trauma after toppling 8ft onto a concrete patio, a court heard.
She is now suing tour giants TUI UK through whom she and her husband Kim booked the apartment at Iliada Studios.
The firm denies liability for the accident in June 2011, alternatively claiming that the apartment’s owners are liable.
And, on top of that, the company claims Mrs Peters courted disaster by drinking too much on her last night in Greece.
But she insisted that she was fully in control when she and her husband returned to the apartment complex after a relaxing meal with friends.
Daniel Saxby, for TUI UK, claimed witnesses ‘formed the opinion that members of your group were more than slightly intoxicated’.
‘That’s not true,’ responded Mrs Peters, who lived in Basingstoke before recently retiring with her husband to Torbay.
‘We were laughing when we came back, my husband has a wonderful sense of humour,’ she told Judge James Howlett.
‘We gelled very well with the group we were with and we’d had a wonderful holiday.
‘It was our last night together and I don’t have to have a drink to enjoy myself – I’m not a party animal.’
And she told the Central London County Court: ‘The emphasis on me being drunk just isn’t true.
‘It was very hot and drink and heat don’t agree with me. I’m quite happy to take a soft drink or some water.’
Mr Saxby said a medic who assessed her injuries after the fall reported that she was ‘clearly drunk and smelt of alcohol’. But she insisted: ‘That’s not correct.’
The hearing was also told about the shoes Mrs Peters was wearing, and it was discussed whether they amounted to ‘inappropriate heeled footwear’.
Mr Saxby claimed Mrs Peters was herself heard to blame her ‘stupid shoes’ soon after the fall.
But the pensioner said there was no question of her sporting ‘silly shoes’ and told the court: ‘I had flat sandals on’.
The accident resulted in multiple fractures to her right arm, head injuries, extensive bruising, and a soft tissue injury to her right foot.
On top of that Mrs Peters suffered a ‘psychological reaction to the accident and her injuries in the form of PTSD and depression’, the court heard.
Movement in her right shoulder is restricted and she finds it hard using her dominant right hand for everyday tasks such as opening jars.
Matthew Chapman, for Mrs Peters, said: ‘Gardening and playing with grandchildren are impossible and difficult respectively.’
The barrister argued that the exposed stairway posed an unacceptable hazard that should have been made safe for visitors.
‘Mrs Peters and her witnesses deny that she was drunk or intoxicated, and also deny that she was wearing inappropriate – heeled – footwear,’ he added.
Nikos Iliadis, a member of the family which ran the apartment complex, also took to the witness stand.
Mr Chapman put to him: ‘I have to suggest to you that you are wrong when you say that she was staggering drunkenly before the accident.
‘I’m also going to suggest that Kim Peters didn’t need to be sobered up after the accident.’
Mr Iliadis responded: ‘Today I am 67. I was 62 at the time of the accident, and I have good sight and I can see.
‘I’m experienced enough to know who is drunk and how drunk that person is, and the consequences of that state.’
Mr Chapman said hospital medics tending to Mrs Peters were told she was ‘intoxicated’ by a ‘Greek speaking person’. Mr Iliadis denied being that person.
The hearing continues.
