Dive bombed by a seagull - Now Give Me Compensation!!
Discussion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west...
BBC said:
A woman who claims she was injured when a seagull swooped at her during her lunch-break is suing the owners of the building where she worked.
Cathie Kelly said she stumbled on steps as she tried to escape the "terrifying" dive-bombing bird outside the Ladyburn business centre in Greenock.
She has raised an action for damages at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
Landlords Riverside Inverclyde (Property Holdings) denied it did not take sufficient care of her safety.
The court heard how a nearby rubbish dump was a magnet for gulls which nested on the old Victorian school building in Pottery Street.
'Instant pain'
Judge Paul Arthurson QC was told of people dashing in and out of the building using umbrellas.
Mrs Kelly, 59, from Glasgow, claimed there had previously been patrols using owls and hawks to try to get rid of the menace.
She said that she stopped for lunch on 17 June and planned to head for a nearby burger van to buy something to eat.
Continue reading the main story
“
I really thought it was going to hurt me”
Cathie Kelly
She said it was impossible to see through the stained glass of the door as she went outside.
"I walked out the door and I barely got to the bottom of the steps and this gull came for me at full speed, wings outstretched, coming right for my face," she said.
"I realised I would never get to the van so I had to get back into the building for safety."
Mrs Kelly said: "It was screaming at me. I was terrified. I thought it was going for my face.
"I couldn't look up to see it because it was right over my head and I really thought it was going to hurt me. I was shouting but it would not go away."
The court heard how as Mrs Kelly turned to go back inside her left shoe came off and she stumbled onto the steps.
"I was badly winded and I was in instant pain. It was very painful," she said.
Court papers said the incident left Mrs Kelly, who worked for CVS Inverclyde, "shaken and distressed". She was off work for two weeks then took to carrying an umbrella to protect her as she made her way to and from her office.
The court has heard seagulls nested on the old Victorian school building
Mrs Kelly said that towers beside the door were a favourite nesting site for gulls. Discussing the incident with colleagues, she learned that a chick had fallen from the nest on the day she was attacked.
The paperwork she has submitted to the court stated: "Urban colonies of nesting gulls were a well-recognised phenomena in the vicinity of the building and the landfill site.
"Gulls consume a highly variable diet and they are predators, scavengers and kleptoparasitic in nature."
Nesting gulls tend to be aggressive in response to predators and intruders and present "a serious risk of injury to people moving within their vicinity," her legal team has claimed.
'Dodging seagulls'
Mrs Ann Walsh, manager with Enterprise Childcare, who also works in the Ladyburn business centre, said the gull problem had been going on for years.
"I was attacked myself by gulls," she said. "I was poo-ed on as part of the attack."
She said she had raised her concerns with the building's management.
"You shouldn't have to be dodging seagulls when you come to work in the morning."
Landlords Riverside Inverclyde (Property Holdings) denied liability. They are part of an organisation set up by the Scottish government, Scottish Enterprise and Inverclyde Council.
They have claimed Mrs Kelly was at least partly to blame because she did not look where she was putting her feet.
Mrs Kelly has raised a £30,000 damages action. The portion of that which she will receive if she proves the landlords were at fault has been agreed.
Cathie Kelly said she stumbled on steps as she tried to escape the "terrifying" dive-bombing bird outside the Ladyburn business centre in Greenock.
She has raised an action for damages at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
Landlords Riverside Inverclyde (Property Holdings) denied it did not take sufficient care of her safety.
The court heard how a nearby rubbish dump was a magnet for gulls which nested on the old Victorian school building in Pottery Street.
'Instant pain'
Judge Paul Arthurson QC was told of people dashing in and out of the building using umbrellas.
Mrs Kelly, 59, from Glasgow, claimed there had previously been patrols using owls and hawks to try to get rid of the menace.
She said that she stopped for lunch on 17 June and planned to head for a nearby burger van to buy something to eat.
Continue reading the main story
“
I really thought it was going to hurt me”
Cathie Kelly
She said it was impossible to see through the stained glass of the door as she went outside.
"I walked out the door and I barely got to the bottom of the steps and this gull came for me at full speed, wings outstretched, coming right for my face," she said.
"I realised I would never get to the van so I had to get back into the building for safety."
Mrs Kelly said: "It was screaming at me. I was terrified. I thought it was going for my face.
"I couldn't look up to see it because it was right over my head and I really thought it was going to hurt me. I was shouting but it would not go away."
The court heard how as Mrs Kelly turned to go back inside her left shoe came off and she stumbled onto the steps.
"I was badly winded and I was in instant pain. It was very painful," she said.
Court papers said the incident left Mrs Kelly, who worked for CVS Inverclyde, "shaken and distressed". She was off work for two weeks then took to carrying an umbrella to protect her as she made her way to and from her office.
The court has heard seagulls nested on the old Victorian school building
Mrs Kelly said that towers beside the door were a favourite nesting site for gulls. Discussing the incident with colleagues, she learned that a chick had fallen from the nest on the day she was attacked.
The paperwork she has submitted to the court stated: "Urban colonies of nesting gulls were a well-recognised phenomena in the vicinity of the building and the landfill site.
"Gulls consume a highly variable diet and they are predators, scavengers and kleptoparasitic in nature."
Nesting gulls tend to be aggressive in response to predators and intruders and present "a serious risk of injury to people moving within their vicinity," her legal team has claimed.
'Dodging seagulls'
Mrs Ann Walsh, manager with Enterprise Childcare, who also works in the Ladyburn business centre, said the gull problem had been going on for years.
"I was attacked myself by gulls," she said. "I was poo-ed on as part of the attack."
She said she had raised her concerns with the building's management.
"You shouldn't have to be dodging seagulls when you come to work in the morning."
Landlords Riverside Inverclyde (Property Holdings) denied liability. They are part of an organisation set up by the Scottish government, Scottish Enterprise and Inverclyde Council.
They have claimed Mrs Kelly was at least partly to blame because she did not look where she was putting her feet.
Mrs Kelly has raised a £30,000 damages action. The portion of that which she will receive if she proves the landlords were at fault has been agreed.
I hate our stupid compensation culture, but I read the article & it looks like the building is not kept in a sanitary condition. And seaguls are actually quite massive when they're up close. There are comments about how this has been going on for a while at the site.
If she wins compensation, she either deserves it, or the system is so stupid and open to exploitation that it's the system that's at fault IMO. Until such a time as a judge can throw a case out and say "this is a total piss take" then these claims are completely legitimate. She must face a fair bit of ribbing at work though surely
If she wins compensation, she either deserves it, or the system is so stupid and open to exploitation that it's the system that's at fault IMO. Until such a time as a judge can throw a case out and say "this is a total piss take" then these claims are completely legitimate. She must face a fair bit of ribbing at work though surely
Well on this basis I think it's time for me to take legal action against the local McDonalds at Farnborough Gate retail park 
I went into the neighbouring Halfords last week and got divebombed and nearly crapped on by some seagulls in the carpark all because someone had dumped what was left of their McDonalds happy meal & fries next to my car.
This must be McDonalds fault & thinking about it now the emotional trauma of the incident has ruined my life so I must get compensation
Or of course I could just get on with my life like any sensible person rather than thinking about the £££ 
I went into the neighbouring Halfords last week and got divebombed and nearly crapped on by some seagulls in the carpark all because someone had dumped what was left of their McDonalds happy meal & fries next to my car.
This must be McDonalds fault & thinking about it now the emotional trauma of the incident has ruined my life so I must get compensation
Or of course I could just get on with my life like any sensible person rather than thinking about the £££ I'm going to rise to this one because of personal knowledge and experience of this area.
These things are an absolute menace and out of control in the West coast of Scotland. Because fish stocks are so depleted now and fishing boats so rare they are coming inland. The result is they will target anything they can eat and attack anything that stands in their way.
The wife and I sometimes take a drive down to Largs, that's a small coastal town just south of where the OP incident happened, and have a bite to eat in Nardini's, a lovely old cafe. They sell the best ice cream on the west coast and I treated myself to a cone as we left the cafe. I only walked a few yards from the entrance when I was struck from behind on the shoulder by a huge gull. It pulled the cone out of my hand and flew off dropping it in the middle of the road. I'm 6ft 2 and over 15 stone, but this thing almost knocked me off my feet. Instantly a dozen other gulls were diving at the ice cream in the the road resulting in a squeel of brakes as the traffic came to a standstill.
The wife of course was weeping with laughter, but it really isn't funny. It seems to me anyone is fair game to these birds, including children. They are huge and very aggressive.
The problem doesn't stop there. The summer before last we had a plague of them at the industrial area where my workshop is. They were resting on the roof in the internal gutters. They would then launch themselves from the edge of the roof crapping on the cars parked at the entrance. Their s
t is full of ammonia and it burns the surface of the paint to the point where it won't polish out, particularly on an old classic if it's painted in cellulose. Only last week we had the builders up because of a leak in the gutter caused by serious corrosion due to this crap from the gulls.
The problem is who can deal with this? If it re-occurs this summer I am going to purchase an air rifle as I reckon personally it is the only way I can "discourage" them off the roof. So have a bit of sympathy with the OP, as you have to experience this to appreciate how bad it can get.
J
These things are an absolute menace and out of control in the West coast of Scotland. Because fish stocks are so depleted now and fishing boats so rare they are coming inland. The result is they will target anything they can eat and attack anything that stands in their way.
The wife and I sometimes take a drive down to Largs, that's a small coastal town just south of where the OP incident happened, and have a bite to eat in Nardini's, a lovely old cafe. They sell the best ice cream on the west coast and I treated myself to a cone as we left the cafe. I only walked a few yards from the entrance when I was struck from behind on the shoulder by a huge gull. It pulled the cone out of my hand and flew off dropping it in the middle of the road. I'm 6ft 2 and over 15 stone, but this thing almost knocked me off my feet. Instantly a dozen other gulls were diving at the ice cream in the the road resulting in a squeel of brakes as the traffic came to a standstill.
The wife of course was weeping with laughter, but it really isn't funny. It seems to me anyone is fair game to these birds, including children. They are huge and very aggressive.
The problem doesn't stop there. The summer before last we had a plague of them at the industrial area where my workshop is. They were resting on the roof in the internal gutters. They would then launch themselves from the edge of the roof crapping on the cars parked at the entrance. Their s
t is full of ammonia and it burns the surface of the paint to the point where it won't polish out, particularly on an old classic if it's painted in cellulose. Only last week we had the builders up because of a leak in the gutter caused by serious corrosion due to this crap from the gulls.The problem is who can deal with this? If it re-occurs this summer I am going to purchase an air rifle as I reckon personally it is the only way I can "discourage" them off the roof. So have a bit of sympathy with the OP, as you have to experience this to appreciate how bad it can get.
J
Other end of the UK, on the south coast, we live just far enough inland not to be too bothered by them.
You dont eat food on the beach, but its not just seagulls, the pigeons can be a pain as well. A friend of the wife had a skin tag pecked off by one while sunbathing!
The gulls are big buggers too and they watch what youre doing - quite often we will sit in the car and have fish and chips and they will surround the car. A few will sit on top waiting to see if you will feed them.
When their young are about its even worse as they get more aggressive.
Still, at least its not bears or wolves!
You dont eat food on the beach, but its not just seagulls, the pigeons can be a pain as well. A friend of the wife had a skin tag pecked off by one while sunbathing!
The gulls are big buggers too and they watch what youre doing - quite often we will sit in the car and have fish and chips and they will surround the car. A few will sit on top waiting to see if you will feed them.
When their young are about its even worse as they get more aggressive.
Still, at least its not bears or wolves!
To be fair, as a property manager, if this was a problem that was brought to my attention I'd expect to be doing something about it, rather than ignoring it.
Quite what you do I'm not so sure. Probably some netting/bird scarer I would have thought.
One off bombings can't be helped, but if it's regular then something needs to change.
Sorry if it does not please the Daily Mail readers.
Quite what you do I'm not so sure. Probably some netting/bird scarer I would have thought.
One off bombings can't be helped, but if it's regular then something needs to change.
Sorry if it does not please the Daily Mail readers.
Bloody hateful things.
Funnily enough, this just found it's way to my bookface feed:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152276...
Grrrr
Funnily enough, this just found it's way to my bookface feed:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152276...
Grrrr
Forums | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff