Waitress sues Nando’s after ‘skin melted’ from cleaning detergent

Mairi Espie, 21, was splashed while emptying a container of corrosive liquid and needed specialist treatment at A&E

Mairi Espie, 21, was a teenager when she worked at a Dundee Nando’s (Digby Brown / SWNS)

A waitress whose skin melted after she was splashed with corrosive liquid while working at Nando’s is suing the fast food chain.

Mairi Espie, 21, needed speciliast treatment at A&E after emptying a container of cleaning detergent in December 2019 at the Nethergate branch in Dundee.

The liquid was so corrosive it burned through her jeans and melted the skin on her right thigh, leaving a permanent scar.

The criminology graduate from Dundee said she hopes to set a precedent for other hospitality workers and felt “fobbed off” by bosses.

Mairi, who was a teenager when the incident occurred, said: “It was absolute agony. It felt like my leg was on fire.

“I’m now left with a permanent scar in a really prominent place on my body.”

She added: “I wasn’t given any special apron or gloves or anything – we were just kind of expected to crack on. The burn was so painful.

“It took months to heal properly but it’s the scarring that upset me the most.

“I’ve got scars on both my legs due to the splash going everywhere but it’s the right thigh that’s the worst. It makes me feel so nervous to wear shorts or skirts.”

Mairi was tasked with changing the detergent for the dishwasher but when she removed the old bottle from the appliance, it splashed her.

The heavy duty cleaner soaked through her jeans and melted her skin – leaving a three-inch sore that needed hospital treatment.

(Digby Brown / SWNS)

Mairi went to Ninewells Hospital where medics provided a specialist washing treatment to remove the detergent.

She was then bandaged and had to recover at home for more than a week.

Mairi, who graduated from Abertay University in July, added: “Legal action is not something I wanted to do but I felt I didn’t have a choice.

“After it all happened I felt like Nando’s just fobbed me off like it was nothing.

“But it’s not – how could the skin melting off your leg be nothing?

“If nothing else, I just hope it makes things safer for other people.

“There must be people all over the country who work in hospitality and see injuries like this all the time and think it’s part of the job, but it’s not.”

A Nando’s restaurant in Nottingham (PA Archive)

Digby Brown Solicitors is now helping Mairi with an employer’s liability claim and is expecting a five-figure payout.

The case, which called in court earlier this week, sets out that Nando’s was responsible as it failed to carry out a risk assessment, failed to provide Mairi with PPE and failed to provide proper training.

Simon Hammond, partner at Digby Brown in Edinburgh, said: “Workplace injuries are sadly a very common occurrence but what’s really unfortunate is just how avoidable they are.

“If Nando’s followed simple protective measures then Mairi would not have suffered like she has and you only need to look at the photo of her burn to imagine the pain she must have felt.”