Andrew Chesterton, 61, was flying from Heathrow<\/a> to Cincinnati<\/a> for a holiday in 2023 when he put his hand between seats and caught two of his fingers on a sharp object.<\/p>\n The former chief operating officer at financial services company Bravura Solutions was left bleeding and in \u201cimmediate pain and shock\u201d and was taken to hospital when the plane landed.<\/p>\n He is now suing the airline for more than \u00a350,000, claiming he was left with scars plus \u201creduced grip strength\u201d in his little finger, as well as suffering from \u201cflashbacks and nightmares\u201d about the incident.<\/p>\n British Airways has admitted liability for the accident, but is resisting the sum Mr Chesterton is claiming, saying it is not liable for compensation for any alleged psychological damage.<\/p>\n In court papers, his barrister Jessica Muurman said that Mr Chesterton, of Chelmsford, Essex, was injured after reaching between his seat, 1A, with his left hand.<\/p>\n \u201cA sharp object, unbeknown to the claimant, was present in the fold of his seat and caused a laceration to his left ring finger and left little finger,\u201d she said. \u201cFollowing the accident, the claimant was in immediate pain and discomfort, and required assistance from cabin crew to temper the bleeding.\u201d<\/p>\n After landing, Mr Chesterton was taken to hospital by emergency services where he had four stitches to his ring finger and seven to his little finger. His ring finger remained uncomfortable and hypersensitive for five months after the injury, while the cut on his little finger later became infected, requiring antibiotics.<\/p>\n \u201cThe claimant has been left with a 15mm scar on his left ring finger, and an 18mm scar on his left little finger,\u201d Ms Muurman wrote. \u201cWhile the claimant\u2019s ability to mobilise his fingers increased during the initial recovery period, the claimant suffers ongoing problems of hypersensitivity, stiffness and reduced grip strength in his left little finger.<\/p>\n \u201cThis impact is permanent. As a result, the claimant must modify tasks \u2013 for example, minimising lifting, particularly in the garden, compared to pre-accident. For approximately two months, the claimant was unable to drive, which impacted his ability to undertake daily tasks as well as his wider social life.<\/p>\n \u201cThe claimant has attended five sessions of physiotherapy in an attempt to combat his ongoing physical symptoms as a result of the accident. The claimant has suffered a psychological impact as a result of the accident. He developed anxiety about participating in social activities, avoiding events such as sports games and concerts, for fear of his fingers being knocked for approximately three months. The claimant has also experienced flashbacks to the accident. The claimant was prescribed sleeping tablets at the end of October 2023 as he was having nightmares and struggling to sleep post-accident.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Chesterton\u2019s claim is under the Montreal Convention, under which British Airways is \u201cstrictly liable\u201d for the accident which occurred on its flight, Ms Muurman wrote.<\/p>\n In its written defence to the action, BA\u2019s barrister, Christopher Loxton, said the airline admits that Mr Chesterton suffered an accident, but that he will have to prove the extent of his injuries.<\/p>\n \u201cThe defendant has little knowledge of the nature and extent of the claimant\u2019s alleged injury, loss or damage,\u201d he wrote. He added that Mr Chesterton would have to prove the extent of his injuries and that they were caused by the accident.<\/p>\n \u201cFurther, in relation to the particulars of injury, and specifically the claimant\u2019s alleged psychological injury, it is denied that he can recover damages for such an injury, as article 17(1) of the Montreal Convention allows a passenger to recover damages for \u2018bodily injury\u2019 or death.\u201d<\/p>\n The case will proceed to a full assessment of the damages which Mr Chesterton is due unless the parties are able to settle the case outside of court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-530760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Chesterton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776191894_47_AndrewChesterton3.jpeg\")
Chesterton has been left with scars and \u2018reduced grip strength\u2019 (Supplied by Champion News)<\/p>\n