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British survivor of Mumbai attacks makes compensation bid in UK courts (3 December 2013)

Date: 03/12/2013
Duncan Lewis, Personal Injury Solicitors, British survivor of Mumbai attacks makes compensation bid in UK courts

A 33-year-old freelance film maker who was injured while trying to escape terrorists in the Mumbai attacks of 2008 has launched a bid to have his claim for compensation heard in a UK court.

Will Pike from north London is confined to a wheelchair after sustaining serious injuries when he fell nearly 50 feet from a hotel window as terrorists attacked the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai in November 2008.

Mr Pike alleges that despite warnings that a terrorist attack in Mumbai was “imminent”, the hotel’s owners “did little” to protect guests from the dangers.

Mr Pike’s former girlfriend who was with him at the time of the attack is also bringing a claim for compensation. Kelly Doyle said security checks at the hotel were “limited” and “cursory” and they only witnessed one occasion when a metal detector was used to screen guests.

The claimants also say they were not given sufficient advice and information about the hotel’s evacuation routes and procedures.

At the time of the attacks they were in their bedroom and on hearing shots being fired and doors being kicked in, they broke a bedroom window in the smoke filled room using furniture.

They then had to tie bedding and curtains together to form a rope they could use the climb down to the exterior ground floor.

Mr Pike’s solicitors say that because he lives in London – and the owners of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, The Indian Hotels Company Limited, have a “substantial” business presence in the capital – it makes sense for the case to be heard in London.

Mr Pike said:

“I do not see why the British taxpayer should have to pay for the lifelong care I need, rather than those whom I believe did not do enough to guarantee my safety and the safety of all those caught up in this atrocity.”

Mr Pike’s legal team said he had only issued his claim two years ago, after “taking some time to come to terms with his grievous injuries, explore the potential for a claim – and instruct experts in the field of liability”.

Mr Pike’s solicitors said pursuing a claim through the courts in India would be “an exercise in futility”.

“We estimate it could take up to 25 years to pursue this claim through the Indian courts rather than in England, where it will take about two years,” Mr Pike’s legal representatives said.

The Mumbai attacks consisted of 12 terrorist attacks on targets such as hotels by the Lashkar-e-Taiba group on 27 November, 2008. A total of 174 people died in the bloodbath, including local police officers.

Only one of the gunmen – Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, 22 – survived and was found guilty of murder, waging war on India and possessing explosives.

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