Renata Plawska-Czerepak claimed she was knocked out cold, fell down a flight of steps and injured her spine after being shocked by a faulty vacuum cleaner at top boys' public school St Paul's, in Barnes, in November 2014. The 45-year-old said she was holding the metal section of her vacuum cleaner whilst hoovering stairs in the school theatre when she was jolted by a sudden electric shock. Her barrister, Philip Williams, argued that the vacuum cleaner was faulty - as a result of which her workplace was unsafe. But after a trial, Judge Alan Saggerson ruled against the cleaner, dashing her hopes of compensation by finding that she had experienced 'static' from the vacuum cleaner rather than a shock from dodgy wiring. 'I reject the allegation that it was a pure electric shock and conclude that this was a static electric shock which took her by surprise, and as a result she fell back down the stairs and suffered injury.'

Source: Daily Mail October 16, 2019 08:11 UTC