Legal Experts Helping Victim Discuss Safety On Slopes

A talented young footballer who broke his leg after he was forced to jump from a ski lift which he and his friend had become stranded on, in sub-zero temperatures in the French Alps, has spoken out about his ordeal.

International serious injury experts at law firm Irwin Mitchell have been helping former semi-professional footballer Thomas Giddings, 25, from Solihull, West Midlands after he broke his tibia and fibula following the accident at Val Thorens Ski Resort, Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, France.

Tom, who was on a skiing holiday during a break from his studies at the University of Nottingham, was a competent skier and hoping to enjoy a final run of the day when the accident happened in December 2010.

As the light was beginning to fade, at around 16.40, Tom and his friend made their way to the ski lift to go up the slope one last time. 

As the ski lift, run by Societe D’Exploitation des Telepheriques Tarantaise-Maurienne (known as S.E.T.A.M), made its ascent it suddenly stopped 200ft from the top leaving Tom and his friend stranded in freezing temperatures. 

Worried, both men sat dangling in mid-air on the lift in –16 degrees centigrade conditions, trying to keep warm while they waited for the empty lift to restart.

There was hardly anyone on the slope and after around half an hour they began to panic. The stranded skiers thought help was at hand when they thought they saw a man in a high-visibility jacket in the distance but help failed to come. 

Getting desperate Tom tried to telephone the emergency number provided on his ski pass wrist band but no one responded and he simply had a recorded message relayed to him in French.  

The two men could feel themselves getting colder and, fearing hypothermia, decided that they had no alternative but to jump down from the lift.  Tom’s friend lowered himself under the barrier and jumped down successfully.  

But when Tom lowered himself under the bar and dropped down to the ground, the impact shattered the bones in his leg, leaving him screaming in agony.

Officials then appeared with a bud wagon and managed to ski Tom, whose broken bone was sticking through his skin, to the medical centre where he was later transferred to Moutiers Hospital where he underwent surgery. 

Tom, who needed metal work inserting into his leg to help his bones heal, remained in hospital for five days before being flown back to the UK and then transferred  to the Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield.

Prior to the accident Tom was a talented footballer and was on the books of Birmingham City Football Club from aged 10 – 16. He was a semi-professional player for Barwell Football team in Leicester and also represented Nottingham University in their first team.

Following the accident Tom spent 18 months on crutches and having physiotherapy to repair the damage to his leg and when he did manage to return to football, he was unable to reach the standards he had done before the incident. 

The accident also left Tom, who was a member of the Snow & Sports Association at Nottingham University at the time of the incident, struggling to study which had an impact on his exams the following month.

Court proceedings were issued against S.E.T.A.M and Tom received a significant five figure sum to compensate him and help with his further rehabilitation.

Nicola Southwell, Tom’s specialist solicitor from law firm, Irwin Mitchell, said: “Tom, who was an experienced skier, found himself in a vulnerable and potentially very dangerous position when he and his friend became stranded on that ski lift. 

“Although his injury has affected his life, in that it left him unable to play the sport he loved at the same level, it doesn’t bear thinking about what might have happened if hypothermia had set in or if he’d suffered worse injuries when he jumped. Incidents like this illustrate why ski resorts and tour operators need to adhere to strict safety standards.”

Tom said: “It was terrifying being left up on that lift as it got darker and colder. We thought someone would have heard us calling for help but none came which is why we felt there was no other option than to jump for it. It wasn’t until my dad, who is a GP, came to visit me in hospital, that I realised how lucky I’d been. 

“Although I am grateful to be alive, the accident has changed my life and stopped me from playing football anywhere near as well as I used to and nothing can turn back the clock. I just hope lessons are learned at all ski resorts from what happened to me.” 

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