Allergic Reaction After Eating In Brewers Fayre – Can I Claim Compensation?

Anybody who knows they have a food allergy will be very careful when ordering a meal in a restaurant. After reviewing a menu, you might even discuss your allergy with staff before committing to your purchase. If the information they provide is incorrect, or if an allergen is not listed on the menu, then you could be entitled to claim compensation if you go on to suffer an allergic reaction. In this guide, we’re going to consider the types of negligence which could lead to a claim for an allergic reaction after eating at Brewers Fayre. We’ll consider what legislation exists to protect you, what mistakes can happen and how much compensation you might receive.

Legal Expert is here to support you if you decide you want to make a claim. A member of our team will provide a no-obligation review of your case along with free claims advice. If they believe your claim is likely to be successful, they’ll refer you to one of our personal injury lawyers. If they decide to help and take your claim forward, they’ll work for you on a No Win No Fee basis.

To discuss your claim with us today, please call 0800 073 8804. Alternatively, carry on reading for more information on claims for an allergic reaction to Brewers Fayre.

Select A Section

• A Guide To Claims For An Allergic Reaction After Eating In Brewers Fayre
• What Are Allergic Reactions After Eating In Brewers Fayre?
• Common Examples Of Foods People Are Allergic To
• Statistics On Food Allergic Reactions
• Brewers Fayre Ignored My Request To Leave Out One Of These Items
• Obligations And Rights Under The Consumer Rights Act
• I Did Not Tell The Restaurant About My Allergy, Could I Claim?
• Brewers Fayre Allergy Info And Menu
• Calculating Compensation For Allergic Reactions After Eating In Brewers Fayre
• How To Claim Special Damages
• I Had An Allergic Reaction, How Do I Claim Damages?
• No Win No Fee Claims If You Suffered An Allergic Reaction After Eating In Brewers Fayre
• Start Your Claim
• Resources

A Guide To Claims For An Allergic Reaction After Eating In Brewers Fayre

While some allergic reactions can be life-threatening or fatal, others can lead to inconvenient and embarrassing symptoms which can last for many weeks or months. Therefore, if you suffer from a reaction because of the negligence of a restaurant, you’d be well within your rights to seek compensation for your suffering.

If you are going to make a claim, our advice is to begin as soon as you’re able to. That’s due to the fact that there’s a personal injury claims time limit. In most cases, that’s a 3-year period commencing from the date of your allergic reaction. While that can seem like a long period, a personal injury lawyer will need time to collect supporting evidence such as medical records and witness statements. If the claim is made outside of the limitation period, you’ll miss out on any compensation you might otherwise have received.

When you’ve finished reading this guide about claiming for an allergic reaction after eating at Brewers Fayre, please speak with an advisor to begin your claim. Legal Expert offers free advice whether you decide to claim or not.

What Are Allergic Reactions After Eating In Brewers Fayre?

In the next section, we’ll explain how allergic reactions are caused. If you have an allergic reaction after eating at Brewers Fayre, it’s not always going to be their fault. If that’s the case, you won’t be able to ask for compensation.

However, we’ll look at the types of negligence that could entitle you to seek compensation following a reaction as we progress through this guide. That might include being given incorrect advice, receiving the wrong ingredients in your dish or ordering from menus which don’t contain the correct allergen information.

What Are Food-Related Allergic Reactions?

Would you believe it if we told you that an allergic reaction is caused by a mistake by the immune system? Well, that’s the case. When you eat an ingredient which your body incorrectly identifies as dangerous, the immune system releases different antibodies to try and protect you. The most common is histamine. These antibodies are what result in the symptoms of an allergic reaction. According to the NHS, some of the more common symptoms include:

• Hives – a raised itchy red rash.
• Abdominal pain.
• Swelling in the face, eyes and mouth.
• Difficulty swallowing.
• Feeling sick and vomiting.

The most serious symptom of an allergic reaction is called anaphylaxis, which can be fatal if not treated quickly enough.

Common Examples Of Foods People Are Allergic To

As we continue through our guide, we’ll discuss some allergens in more detail. You may already know of some of the more common ones, such as nut allergies. However, to provide clarity here is a more comprehensive list of food allergens:

• Cereal allergy
• Gluten allergy
• Nut allergy
• Shellfish allergy
• Egg allergy
• Dairy allergy
• Wheat allergy
• Fruit allergy
• Lupin allergy
• Celery allergy
• Seafood allergy
• Fish allergy
• Milk allergy
• Mustard allergy
• Soy allergy
• Sulphur dioxide allergy

Legal Expert can help you claim for allergic reactions caused by any of the ingredients listed. We’ll provide examples of negligence that could entitle you to claim as we progress.

Statistics On Food Allergic Reactions

It’s quite surprising just how common food allergies are in the UK. According to statistics from the Food Standards Agency:

• Between 1 and 2% of adults have a food allergy.
• Between 5 and 8% of children suffer as well.
• It is estimated that equates to 2 million people in the UK who suffer from food allergies (and 600,000 with coeliac disease).

Importantly, these figures do not include food intolerances or other forms of allergies not linked with food ingredients.

Brewers Fayre Ignored My Request To Leave Out One Of These Items

Many restaurants will allow you to request that certain things are left out of your meal when it’s prepared. This might be the case if you simply don’t like the flavour or it could be because you know it will cause an allergic reaction. Sometimes, the restaurant won’t be able to carry out your request and you’ll need to choose another item. If the waiting staff agree to your request, though, you could make a compensation claim if the item is still included and you suffer a reaction as a result. Supplying evidence that this happened will be crucial to the success of the claim. 

Here are some of the requests you might ask of serving staff:

• No Cheese
• No Milk
• No Eggs
• No Oats
• No Fish
• No Wheat
• No Nuts
• No Tomatoes

Witnesses who overheard you make your request could be used to provide evidence to support this type of claim, as could a copy of a receipt with details of your bespoke order. Please feel free to discuss what happened with a specialist today.

Allergic Reactions Due To Restaurants Acting Negligently

Big chains of restaurants such as Brewers Fayre spend a lot of money on training staff and making sure adequate allergen information is available to their customers. However, humans do make mistakes and, if they do, can cause a customer to suffer. Here are some scenarios involving negligence which could see a restaurant liable for your injuries, provided evidence can be supplied to show the failing:

• When allergen information provided by head office isn’t displayed prominently.
• If a member of staff gives you incorrect information about an allergen.
• Where incorrect ingredients are used to prepare a meal.
• If safety procedures aren’t followed, leading to cross-contamination of a meal.

You could be entitled to claim if any of the situations listed caused your allergic reaction, so please contact us for further information.

Obligations And Rights Under The Consumer Rights Act

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 provides you with some protection when you make a purchase. It means that most things you buy need to arrive as described and fit for purpose. In relation to food products, the retailer or producer could be found to be liable for your suffering if you have an allergic reaction because they failed to show an allergen was included in the product.

Allergy Warning Label Failures

When you purchase pre-packed foods, the ingredients need to clearly indicate if an allergen is included. To make this easier for customers, the allergen should be shown in bold font, underlined, or in colour to make it stand out. Also, if there’s a chance of cross-contamination during the preparation process, the food should contain a warning such as, “may contain nuts”.

If you’ve suffered a reaction because of inadequate food labelling, please discuss your claim with a member of our team today.

I Did Not Tell The Restaurant About My Allergy, Could I Claim?

Even though you know about your allergy, you are not legally obliged to tell the staff at a restaurant about it. It might be a good idea to tell them, but the onus is actually on the restaurant to provide enough information about what ingredients are used in their products.

Therefore, even if you haven’t told anybody about your allergy, and you go on to suffer a reaction because of the negligence of the restaurant in providing adequate allergen information, you could still be allowed to claim. If that’s the scenario you find yourself in, call an advisor today to let them know what happened.

Brewers Fayre Allergy Info And Menu

For clarity, we’ve listed the current items available on the Brewers Fayre menu. The information was correct at the time of writing, but you should bear in mind that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many restaurants reduced their options so that less staff were working in their kitchens. Therefore, some items might not be available in all restaurants.

Starters

• Seasonal Soup
• Garlic & Herb Breaded Mushrooms
• Prawn Cocktail
• Rosemary & Buttermilk Chicken Goujons

Mains

• Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad
• Smothered Chicken Burger
• The South Western
• Classic Cheeseburger
• Vegan Sloppy Joe
• Mac ‘n’ Cheese Burger
• Chargrilled Gammon Steak
• Mixed Grill
• Chicken Tikka Curry
• Chicken & Half Rack of Ribs
• 8oz* Sirloin Steak
• 8oz* Rump Steak
• Sausage, Egg and Chips
• Beef & Pork Lasagne
• Beer-Battered Haddock & Chips
• Breaded Wholetail Scampi

Sides

• Beer-Battered Onion Rings
• Peppercorn Sauce

Desserts

• Meringue Kisses
• Caramel Apple Betty
• Vanilla Ice Cream
• Caramel Choc-a-Block Cadbury Sundae
• Belgian Waffle
• Triple Chocolate Brownie

We could help you claim for an allergic reaction after eating any of the items listed if you’re able to show that the menu, signage or advice from staff did not clearly identify the presence of an allergen. Please contact us and discuss what happened for a free assessment of your claim.

Calculating Compensation For Allergic Reactions After Eating In Brewers Fayre

So far, we’ve shown you why you might claim for an allergic reaction after eating at Brewers Fayre. Now we’re going to discuss compensation amounts. In reality, every claim is unique as claimants are affected in different ways. Therefore, we don’t use a personal injury claims calculator as they can often lead to confusion. Instead, we’ve included the following table that has details of some compensation amounts for different types of an allergic reaction. When your claim has been reviewed properly, you’ll receive a personalised compensation estimate from your solicitor.

The amounts listed are taken from a document that courts and solicitors use called the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). As you’ll notice, the amount of compensation awarded can vary quite a lot because it’s based on the severity of your suffering. To help prove how you’ve suffered, your solicitor will make an appointment for a local medical assessment to be carried out. Your medical records will be reviewed by a specialist, and you’ll be asked several questions about the impact of your injuries. Then a report will be written containing the specialist’s conclusions.

How To Claim Special Damages

A personal injury lawyer is able to claim for two different heads of loss when seeking compensation. These are referred to as special damages and general damages. General damages compensate you for your physical and psychological injuries. They cover pain, suffering and loss of amenity. Examples of general damages can be located in the previous section’s table.

Special damages aim to recover any financial losses you’ve incurred as a direct result of your allergic reaction. There are quite a few components of a special damages claim including:

• Care Costs: While you’re recovering from your illness, you might need help with day to day tasks. If that’s the case, you could claim back any carer’s fees. If the person who looks after you is a friend, you could work out an hourly rate for their time.
• Medical Costs: Most treatment following an allergic reaction will be provided free by the NHS. However, you could still have to pay for prescriptions, other medications and treatment not offered by the NHS.
• Travelling Expenses: You’re also able to claim back the cost of parking and fuel linked to medical appointments or trips to the pharmacy due to your reaction. Also, if you normally drive, but aren’t able to because you’re too ill, you could ask for the costs associated with any alternative travel arrangements.
• Lost Income: Depending on the length of your recovery, you could lose a lot of income while you are off work recovering. If that happens, you could ask for the loss to be reimbursed. If the effect of your allergic reaction is predicted to last for a long time, you could also claim future loss of earnings.

You can use bank statements, wage slips and receipts as evidence to prove your financial losses.

I Had An Allergic Reaction, How Do I Claim Damages?

To begin your claim, you should try and gather as much evidence as possible. This can include details of any witnesses who heard your conversations with staff, food packaging, photographs of menus and medical records. Then you should reach out to an advisor at Legal Expert.

When you engage with us, you’ll benefit from the expertise of one of our personal injury solicitors. They’ll be available throughout your case to discuss any concerns or answer any questions. You’ll also get regular updates as things progress. Ultimately, your solicitor will strive to try and ensure you receive a fair amount of compensation for your suffering.

Please get in touch with us once you’re ready to begin. We offer free advice even if you decide not to proceed.

No Win No Fee Claims If You Suffered An Allergic Reaction After Eating In Brewers Fayre

What’s the biggest concern you have about claiming for an allergic reaction? For many, it’s the costs involved in hiring a solicitor. We’re proud that we can help reduce stress levels and the financial risks of claiming because our solicitors provide a No Win No Fee service for claims they agree to handle.

First of all, your solicitor will check that your claim has enough merit to proceed. Once they’ve done so, and you’re happy to continue, they’ll offer you a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) to review and sign. This is a contract between you both used to fund the case. Some of the benefits of claiming with a CFA include:

• There are no fees to pay upfront, allowing your case to start straight away.
• You will not be asked to pay any solicitor’s fees while the case continues.
• If the claim is lost, you don’t need to pay any solicitor’s fees at all.

When a claim has been won, your solicitor will deduct a small portion of your compensation to cover their time and costs. This is called a success fee. So you know what amount you’ll pay, the success fee is listed prominently in your CFA and, by law, is capped.

An advisor can check if you’re eligible to claim using our No Win No Fee solution so please contact us today.

Start Your Claim

If you’ve read this guide about claims for an allergic reaction after eating at Brewers Fayre and have decided that you’re going to claim, we’d love to help you do so. To get in touch with Legal Expert, you can:

• Call us free on 0800 073 8804 and discuss what happened with a specialist.
• Email us with an overview of what happened to info@legalexpert.co.uk.
• Connect with us right from this page using the live chat tool.
• Request a call back to discuss your case via this online claim form.

Your advisor will go through your claim with you in a no-obligation consultation. They’ll look at what happened, how you were injured and who was to blame and will look at any evidence you supply. If there’s a reasonable prospect of success, they’ll connect you to one of our personal injury lawyers. Whenever they take on a claim, they work on a No Win No Fee basis.

Resources

You’ve reached the last section of this article about claiming for an allergic reaction after eating at Brewers Fayre. We’ve included a lot of information already but, to ensure you are fully prepared to begin a claim, we’ve linked to some more guides and resources in this section. Should you require anything else, please get in touch with a Legal Expert advisor.

Allergy Diagnosis – Details from the NHS about how food allergies are tested for and diagnosed.

14 Allergens – The full list of allergens that must be listed on food packaging in accordance with food legislation.

Allergy Alerts – A free service from Allergy UK which sends you a message if a product is recalled because it contains an undeclared allergen.

Allergic Reaction To Gluten – This guide shows you how to claim following a reaction to gluten.

Restaurant Allergy Claims – Details of when a restaurant might be liable for an allergic reaction and when you could sue.

Bar Accident Claims – Information on suing a pub or bar for an accident caused by their negligence.

Other Guides You Can Read

• Spanish Restaurant Allergic Reaction Claims Guide
• London Southend Airport Accident Claims Guide
• £12,000 Compensation For A Medial Meniscus Knee Injury
• Caribbean Restaurant Allergic Reaction Claims Guide
• Helicopter Accident Claims Guide
• East Midlands Airport Accident Claims Guide
• Humberside Airport Accident Claims Guide
• £31,000 Compensation for a Toe Amputation claim
• Unexpected Turbulence Injury Claims Guide

Guide by Hambridge

Edited by Billing