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EXCLUSIVE: I nearly lost my foot after slicing it ‘on a nail’ when I went down a slide at

admin — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 08:51:29 +0000

A British holidaymaker told how she was lucky not to lose her left foot after it was ‘sliced wide open’ in a horror accident at a water park in Spain.

Mum-of-four Stephanie Somerville, 32, said she was left in agony and covered in blood after she was catapulted into a wall by a ‘dangerous’ water slide at Rio Safari Elche water park in Alicante.

Stephanie has been signed off work for eight weeks and has been told she may require surgery after the accident last Thursday (September 7).

She hit out at staff who told her they believed she had ripped her foot open on a loose nail but they could not find the object and carried on ‘as if nothing had happened’.

She said: ‘They just don’t care. They kept the pool open with kids inside. It’s so dangerous.

Stephanie Somerville, 32, was left covered in blood after she was catapulted into a wall by a ‘dangerous’ water slide at Rio Safari Elche water park in Alicante, Spain

Stephanie believes that she ripped her foot open on a loose nail, but hit out at staff who she claimed carried on ‘as if nothing had happened’. She may yet require surgery

Stephanie said that the cut to her foot was more than five centimetres long and was rushed to a hospital nearby. She was told that she was lucky to not have lost her foot

‘My foot was torn open to the bone in one clean slice.

‘I’m worried that the next accident that happens there will be even worse.’

Stephanie – a hospitality worker at Celtic Football Club – told how she jetted out to the Spanish resort on the Costa Blanca for a week long break with partner Charlie, 28, along with her three daughters aged 12, six and four and baby son Tyrien who is just eight-months-old.

But she said the holiday turned into a nightmare after the trip to the water park on the second day of their break.

Describing the accident Stephanie, from Anniesland, Glasgow, said: ‘There was a big slide which you had to go down on a rubber doughnut.

‘I went down for the first time. It’s a very fast slide but instead of being a wide or long pool at the end, it was very small.

‘I went flying off the slide into the pool and smashed into the wall.

‘Unless you were able to turn, which was possible, there was no way of avoiding it.

Stephanie claimed that the Rio Safari Elche water park in Alicante was ‘dangerous’

Stephanie has been signed off work for eight weeks following the accident

‘The wall was made of rubber but I hit it very hard.

‘I tried to stop myself but when I put my foot down in the pool there was a tremendous pain.

‘I thought that I had broken my foot. I was in agony.

‘I didn’t realise what had happened until I came out of the pool and a Spanish man came over and was asking if I was OK.

‘He was pointing at my foot. I looked down and there was blood everywhere.

‘It was then I realised the bottom of my foot had been sliced wide open.’

Stephanie said no members of staff were able to offer medical assistance and she was advised to drive to a private hospital 15 minutes away.

She said: ‘‘I was crying and I couldn’t walk.

‘They didn’t care or bother at all. It was just a random guy who helped me out. There wasn’t anyone there who had any medical training to help.

‘My foot had been cut open and there was blood in the pool but they didn’t do anything.

‘Luckily my kids had stayed in the little pool and hadn’t been on the slide but there were children as young as five or six who were using it.

’We were left to our own devices and had to drive ourselves to hospital.’

Stephanie said that when she arrived at the IMED Hospital in Elche, doctors were not surprised to see her.

She said: ‘At the hospital they said it was very bad. They said I would need surgery but that I was lucky because I could have lost my foot.

‘Whatever was in the pool has ripped through the back of my toe and slashed through the whole front half of my foot.

‘The cut is more than five centimetres long. It’s one clean slash. I had to have stitches.

Following the accident, Stephanie spent the next five days of her family holiday ‘staying indoors’ as it was too painful to move around

Stephanie, of Glasgow, works for Celtic Football Club and had been in holiday with her children in Spain

Stephanie – who has been in contact with a lawyer and insurers – said the water park paid for her basic treatment but refused to pay compensation and insisted they could do nothing more for her.

She said: ‘There’s obviously something not right there. That slide needs to be closed down. It’s dangerous. People don’t realise what they’re letting themselves in for.

‘It’s really fast. There’s nothing holding you in and you come down into this area that’s just too small.

‘We went back to the water park two days later as they had stopped taking our calls.

‘They had done nothing about it at all.

‘They thought it was a tiny loose nail or a screw that caused it but they said they couldn’t find anything and kept it open as normal.

‘There was no proper investigation. They don’t know whether the nail was on the ground or in the wall.’

Stephanie told how she spent the next five days of her holiday ‘staying indoors’ at the villa the family had rented as part of their £2,100 holiday.

‘She said: ‘I couldn’t go out as I couldn’t walk. I had to buy crutches and antibiotics but it was too painful to get around.

‘We had only been there two days when it happened and the whole holiday was ruined. It turned into a nightmare.’

Stephanie said she was only given permission to fly home at the last minute after airport staff spoke to doctors at the hospital that treated her.

She was taken to the plane in a wheelchair and her foot swelled up so badly on the flight home that she needed another wheelchair after landing – before going straight to A&E from the airport.

She said: ‘I’ve got a baby and I’ve been signed off work for eight weeks and my partner who is self-employed can’t work right now as he is looking after me and helping with the kids.

‘I’m still in a lot of pain. I’ve got to go back to have my stitches out.

‘They don’t know anything yet. I won’t know if I will need surgery or additional treatment until after that and the wound could get infected – anything could still happen.’

MailOnline contacted the water park for comment.

British Airways stewardess accidentally sets off emergency slide moments before take-off

admin — Sat, 17 Jun 2023 01:25:15 +0000

British Airways stewardess delays passengers by five hours and ‘costs airline £50,000’ on her maiden flight by activating the emergency slide moments before take-off

The Airbus A350 had been minutes from take-off at Heathrow to Austin, Texas
The rookie stewardess triggered the slide after opening rear door as jet taxied

By Tom Cotterill

Published: 11:57 EDT, 15 June 2023 | Updated: 12:26 EDT, 15 June 2023

A British Airways stewardess left passengers ‘traumatized’ after activating the emergency slide moments before take-off on her maiden flight with the airliner.

The bungling worker cost BA £50,000 following the ‘scary’ gaffe at Heathrow Airport, which delayed passengers for more than five hours.

The rookie crew member had been on her first flight on one of BA’s Airbus A350 jets when she accidentally opened the rear emergency door on Sunday afternoon.

The plane had been on taxing onto the runway and was minutes from take-off to Austin, Texas, when its emergency slide inflated, leaving passengers horrified.

Dr Sridevi Rao claimed to be one of the travellers on the plane and said she had been left ‘traumatized’ by the debacle.

The crew member had been on her very first flight on a BA Airbus A350 when she accidentally opened the rear emergency door on Sunday afternoon (File image of Airbus A350)

Passengers were left horrified after the stewardess set off the emergency slide moments before take-off on a British Airways flight from Heathrow to Austin, Texas

Writing on Twitter, she said: ‘I was in the very back row by the door when it flew open as we were moving towards the runway. It was so loud and scary as the cabin depressurized and the slide inflated. #traumatized #BritishAirways.’

The stewardess’s error sparked a major response from emergency services, who rushed to Terminal 5 to surround Flight BA191.

The jet reportedly had to be replaced and a new emergency slide found for the original Airbus.

The shocked crew member was ‘stood down’ from all duties by BA and ordered to go back to training, reports The Sun.

A source told the paper the delay cost the airliner £50,000 before adding: ‘The stewardess has had a shocker.’

The incident comes months after a similar gaffe in January, which saw the exact same thing happen on a BA flight to Lagos.

Speaking of Sunday’s debacle, a spokesman from British Airways said the passengers involved in it had all ‘disembarked normally’.

‘We arranged a replacement aircraft for them to continue their journey the same day and have apologised for the inconvenience caused,’ he added.

Watches of Switzerland reports record annual performance – but shares slide

admin — Thu, 18 May 2023 00:42:13 +0000

Watches of Switzerland reports record annual performance – but shares tumble amid worsening trading backdrop

The luxury retailer declared revenue of £1.54bn for the 12 months ending April
Turnover was about double the amount that the group achieved four years ago
Watches of Switzerland shares were the FTSE 350’s biggest faller on Wednesday

By Harry Wise For This Is Money

Published: 09:42 EDT, 17 May 2023 | Updated: 20:28 EDT, 17 May 2023

Result: Watches of Switzerland declared record revenues and profits last year

Watches of Switzerland Group has hailed another record annual result but seen its shares slide after warning of difficult trading conditions.

The luxury retailer declared revenue of £1.54billion for the 12 months ending April, jumping by a quarter on the previous year and about double the amount it achieved four years ago.

Growth was driven by sales soaring by more than half in the United States, where the firm has expanded heavily in recent years by acquiring and opening stores.

By comparison, its sales across the UK and Europe increased by only 10 per cent to £890million despite launching multiple new shops, including five in Battersea Power Station alone.

Trading was also boosted by watches being sold in greater numbers and at higher average prices, which the business said reflected the ‘continued dynamism of the category.’

Consequently, it expects to report annual underlying pre-tax earnings of between £163million and £167million, compared to £130million in the prior year.

Yet this performance failed to prevent Watches of Switzerland Group shares from becoming the FTSE 350 Index’s worst performer on Wednesday morning. They recovered modestly to end the day 5.8 per cent down at 697.5p.

The company warned that the ‘more challenging trading environment’ experienced in the second half of the last financial year had carried on into the new year.

It anticipates a ‘modest sales decline’ in the first quarter due to a robust comparative trading period the prior year before normalising in the following three months.

Following two years of unprecedented expansion, the firm forecasts total revenue rising by just 8 to 11 per cent on a constant currency basis this year.

Chief executive Brian Duffy remarked: ‘Although, as expected, the second half of FY23 saw a more challenging trading environment, demand remains strong and continues to exceed supply, with client registration lists continuing to grow.’

He added: ‘We remain confident in our goals to maintain our leadership position in the UK, become the clear leader in the US, and capitalise on our growth potential in Europe.’

Watches of Switzerland announced plans to open another two stores in 2024, one in Manchester under a joint venture with Audemars Piguet and the other selling Tudor watches on Old Bond Street, one of London’s most upmarket shopping destinations.

This comes alongside plans to launch multi-brand showrooms in New Jersey this month, the Netherlands, and New York City next January.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: ‘There is nothing in the latest update to suggest major problems within Watches of Switzerland.’

But, he added: ‘The trouble is that investors have seen other pandemic retail winners fall flat on their face over the past few years, and they might worry that Watches of Switzerland’s latest update could be the first in a series of setbacks.

‘The pressure is on for the business to deliver and not be put on the scrapheap along with the online fashion retailers who suffered an almighty post-pandemic hangover.’

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MAFS casting producers slide into the DMs of an engaged Channel Nine sports presenter’s

admin — Sun, 14 May 2023 03:54:13 +0000

Channel Nine presenter Danika Mason found herself at the centre of an unexpected blunder that could have seen her fiancé, Todd Liubinskas, turn into a reality star overnight.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Married At First Sight casting producers recently reached out to Todd, son of former Wests star Mick Liubinskas, via his Instagram direct messages, probing his interest in starring in the upcoming series.

The couple were left puzzled as Liubinskas’ Instagram page heavily features loved-up photos with the glamorous sports presenter.

Mason and Liubinskas, who are set to tie the knot later this year, aren’t shy when it comes to posting about their love story on social media.

However, the MAFS scouts apparently didn’t quite get the memo.

Channel Nine sports presenter Danika Mason found herself chuckling at an unexpected blunder that could have had her fiancé, Todd Liubinskas, turning reality star overnight

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Married At First Sight casting producers reached out to Todd, son of former Wests star Mick Liubinskas, via his Instagram direct messages, probing his interest in starring in the upcoming series

While it’s not every day that a sports presenter’s fiancé gets tapped for a reality TV show, the couple took the mix-up in stride.

It comes just weeks after Daily Mail Australia revealed that casting for the eleventh season of the show is already proving to be a headache for Channel Nine.

The network is scrambling to find genuine participants looking for love, according to a production insider.

With his Instagram page heavily featuring loved-up photos with the glamorous presenter, this approach has left many puzzled

While it’s not every day that a sports presenter’s fiancé gets tapped for a reality TV show, the couple took the mix-up in stride

The hit dating show has been inundated with fame-hungry influencers and wannabe reality stars, more interested in boosting their profiles than finding their soulmates.

‘It’s been a real challenge so far,’ they said. ‘We’ve had a massive influx of influencers and wannabe celebrities applying for the show, but we’re struggling to find genuine participants who are truly looking for love.’

‘We want to maintain the integrity of the show and provide real, heartfelt connections for our viewers, but it’s getting harder and harder.’

It comes just weeks after Daily Mail Australia revealed casting for the 2024 season of the show is already proving to be a headache for Nine. Pictured: Bronte Schofield and Harrison Boon

The surge of applicants seeking their 15 minutes of fame has left the show’s producers in a bind, as they sift through countless auditions to find authentic candidates who are willing to put their hearts on the line for a chance at true love.

The source added, ‘We’ve had to increase our vetting process, with more in-depth interviews and background checks.’

‘It’s a time-consuming and costly process, but we’re determined to find the right matches for the upcoming season.’

‘We’re looking for people to be the next Tahnee and Ollie, rather than a Harrison and Bronte.’

According to the spy, the dating show has been inundated with fame-hungry influencers and wannabe reality stars, more interested in boosting their profiles than finding their soulmates

According to the source, a bevy of participants who have applied and been approached for the show have already appeared on other reality tv shows, making them ineligible.

‘They would get through one or two stages of the interviews, then mention they were on another show, wasting everyone’s time.’

This casting crisis comes as no surprise, given the meteoric rise in popularity of MAFS in recent years.

The show has become a springboard for many former participants, who have gone on to lucrative careers in the public eye, thanks to their exposure on the series.

Some viewers have expressed concerns that the increasing number of fame-seekers on the show will lead to more manufactured drama and less genuine emotion, potentially jeopardizing the program’s credibility.

Channel Nine, however, remains committed to delivering an authentic and engaging viewing experience for its loyal audience.

It follows reports Nine bosses were furious to discover some brides and grooms were already trying to make the most of their newfound fame. (Pictured: Melinda Willis)

MAFS’ executive producers Tara McWilliams, who is credited with transforming the show into the ratings juggernaut it is today, previously acknowledged that some of the participants are not ‘100 per cent genuine’.

She told Mediaweek it’s ‘not realistic’ to expect all the brides and grooms to be ‘only motivated by finding love’.

But regardless of their intentions, she does make sure all the contestants are ‘authentic’ in their own way and that they sincerely want to take part in the experiment – even if romance isn’t their primary motivation.

MAFS’ executive producers Tara McWilliams (pictured) previously acknowledged that some of the participants are not ‘100 per cent genuine’