Damages for woman struck in face by bottle on Ryanair plane

Glass bottle fell from overhead locker after plane from Rome landed back in Dublin

Victoria Fox (40) told the High Court she had to cancel her 40th birthday party celebrations after suffering a wound to her nose and black bruising around her eyes when a glass bottle fell from an overhead locker on a Ryanair plane and struck her. Photograph: Courts Collins.
Victoria Fox (40) told the High Court she had to cancel her 40th birthday party celebrations after suffering a wound to her nose and black bruising around her eyes when a glass bottle fell from an overhead locker on a Ryanair plane and struck her. Photograph: Courts Collins.

A woman left with a scar on her nose after being struck in the face by a glass bottle which fell from an overhead locker on a Ryanair plane has settled her High Court case against the airline.

Victoria Fox (40) told the High Court she had to cancel her 40th birthday party celebrations after suffering a wound to her nose and black bruising around her eyes.

She sued Ryanair over the incident whch happened on March 24th last shortly after her flight from Rome landed at Dublin Airport. The airline conceded liability and the case was before the court for assessment of damages only.

When it was due to resume before Mr Justice Bernard Barton on Tuesday, he was told it had settled. No details were provided.

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In evidence last week, Ms Fox, a mother of two, of Primrose Street, Ringsend, Dublin said she was sitting on an aisle seat talking to her husband after the flight landed in Dublin and came to a halt.

A passenger jumped up to get his bag from the overhead locker and a bottle of duty free dislodged and fell, she said.

“The bottle came straight down and hit me in the face. I let out a scream. There was blood all over my head.”

She said the bottle may have fallen out when the man moved his bag but did not belong to him. She said an ambulance arrived, the crew cleaned the wound on the bridge of her nosebut she was not taken to hospital.

Mr Justice Barton had said the nose scar was not a significant disfiguring scar but was discernible. He also remarked that external appearance, such as the face, remains a matter of significance mainly for women rather that men.