Former Pupil Sues School Over Fall From Window

It has been revealed that a public school is being sued by a former pupil, after she fell out of a window and received severe personal injuries. The girl was drunk at the time of the incident and fell out of the open window. She has been left permanently disabled. The 16-year-old pupil at Oundle School when the incident occurred. She was drunk at a Valentine's Day ball and fell 15ft from her first-floor window. The claimant now a 20-year-old classics student at Selwyn College, Cambridge, claims that the incident happened because of a "drinking culture" among students at the school. It is reported that compensation will be sought via a no win no fee arrangement to the sum of £300,000 in damages. The student now suffers from partial paraplegia, which can lead to limb paralysis, and walks with the aid of crutches. A night to remember for all the wrong reasons The accident took place in February 2005, when the student was in the lower sixth of the mixed £22,800-a-year school near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. Her writ claims that the window she fell from opened to 12 inches, three times the legal maximum. Documents lodged at the High Court say that the school was in loco parentis, and accuse the school of failing in its duty of care by leaving the student in the room while it was "known she was under the influence of alcohol." She alleges that before the ball she had drunk "a combination of alcohol drinks" over several hours. When teachers noticed that she was walking unsteadily, she was sent to "cool off", but her statement claims that she returned to the ball. Staff later confirmed that she had in fact been drinking and took her back to her room. However, once left there, the writ states, she "leaned so far out the window that she fell out." Oundle's rules state that sixth form pupils are allowed to drink wine, beer and cider at officially permitted social events where a "substantial meal" is provided. Legal case After the accident, the pupil left the school to continue her studies elsewhere. The pupil refused to discuss the case: "I don't really want to talk about it, I don't think I should partly because of legal reasons but also because it's just not something I want to discuss." A spokeswoman for the school confirmed that a writ had been served on the school but said she could not comment further. "The matter is being dealt with by the school's legal advisers," she said. The writ says that since 1969 the British Standard Code of Practice has recommended that limiters be fitted on windows above ground level, restricting opening to less than four inches. The 1998 edition of Building Regulations also required such windows to be fitted with limiters or safety guards to prevent falls. The Health and Safety Executive recently revealed that 46 people died and 3,351 suffered serious personal injury as a result of a fall from height.