[Doofy]

Bungling handyman puts ladder against branch he is sawing off... sues BOSSES after breaking his foot | Mail Online

As DIY disasters go, they don't come much dafter than sawing off a tree branch that you've just leaned your ladder against.

But when he was asked to prune a sycamore tree in the grounds of a luxury hotel, handyman Peter Aspinall propped his ladder against the branch he was removing instead of the tree trunk.

He sawed through the branch and it plummeted 14 feet to the ground. The ladder and Mr Aspinall quickly followed.

The 64-year-old broke his heel, damaged ligaments and spent ten days in hospital after the fall.

Yesterday it emerged that Mr Aspinall, who has been off sick since the accident 18 months ago, is suing Egerton House Hotel, near Bolton, for his injuries.
A court ordered the hotel to pay £2,015 after a health and safety investigation concluded that the owners had failed to carry out a 'risk assessment' on the dangers of sawing a tree branch with a ladder against it and should have trained Mr Aspinall and a colleague on where to place the ladder.

The hotel's solicitor, David Walton, told magistrates: 'It is an unusual accident. Laurel and Hardy do that sort of thing.'

Speaking after the hearing, he added: 'The hotel was very disappointed that common sense did not prevail and that the case was brought against them.
'The prosecution case was that had there been a routine risk assessment for the gardening activity of pruning trees then it's unlikely that this accident would have happened.

'But, even if there had been a risk assessment done, no one would expect two experienced men to do such a thing.'

The court heard the accident happened on July 18, 2008, after Mr Aspinall, a part-time handyman who had worked at the hotel for only two weeks, was asked by gardener Alan Ashworth to help him prune a tree which was shading the lawn.

The two men placed a ladder against the branch which was to be cut but, as Mr Ashworth was left-handed, he felt it was too awkward for him to saw, so asked Mr Aspinall to cut it.

While Mr Ashworth held the bottom of the ladder, Mr Aspinall climbed up and began using a bow saw to remove the branch. When the branch broke, Mr Aspinall fell to the ground.

Love the comments:

He should sue his own parents for allowing him out on his own!

The hotel should indeed have carried out a risk assessment starting with:

1. What is the risk that I have employed an idiot.

the sad thing about this case is that he couldn't even fall off a ladder on his own - he needed help, there were two of them !

[turtle777]

Awesome

We all know that in the US, the manufacturer of the ladder would have been sued as well.

And the damages would not have been so puny

-t

[SpaceMonkey]

What's Funnier Than Watching a Burglar Fall Off a Ladder? - DCist

[Oisín]

Good lord, that’s ridiculous. The court that accepted this case should be … erm … ‘uncourted’. (What do you do to courts? Sounds odd to say you ‘fire’ a court … Disbarred? Hardly.)

In unrelated news: Congratulations on your new-found status of insanity, Doof.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

In unrelated news: Congratulations on your new-found status of insanity, Doof.

Thanks Ois.

[ajprice]

He should get a Darwin Award honourable mention for being that dim but not killing himself.

[andi*pandi]

^that. what ridiculousness.