A Durham woman who suffered serious head injuries after falling into a pub’s cellar has launched a High Court damages claim for over £200,000 against the owners of the pub.

The 50-year-old, who is now a protected person and no longer able to manage her own affairs since the accident, is suing pub owners, Sunderland-based Top House Consortium through her daughter.

The accident happened on July 23 2020 as she was making her way to the loo at the Crown Inn in Pelton, near Chester-le-Street, according to a writ issued in London’s High Court.

She pushed against what she thought was the loo door, but fell down concrete steps to the cellar below, suffering serious injuries according to the High Court claim which has just been made publicly available at the court in London.

Read more: Police release image after two woman sexually assaulted in North East town within half hour

It says that after the accident she needed two operations on her left fractured collarbone, and then a third earlier this year after the fractures failed to unite.

She also suffered severe fractures of her skull, as well as a brain haemorrhage, and was treated at the University Hospital of North Durham. The prognosis for her injuries is guarded.

The claim brands the pub negligent and says there was failure to lock the cellar door or stop it from opening, failure to warn pub visitors of the unlocked door, failure to warn of the risks of injury and harm through the door, and failure to take any steps to keep pub visitors safe.

The company negligently allowed a trap to exist for pub-goers and failed to take reasonable care to ensure that the injured woman would be reasonably safe in using the pub, the court documents allege.

Neither Top House Consortium nor The Crown Inn could be reached for comment.

Read next:

If you want to read more great stories, why not subscribe to your Northern Echo for as little as £1.25 a week. Click here.