Paralysed teacher loses £5m claim

A teacher left paralysed after breaking his neck in a freak welly-wanging accident has lost his High Court claim for more than £5m in damages.

Glennroy Blair-Ford, 45, was on an activities week with his secondary school pupils on Dartmoor in April 2007 when he sustained his injury attempting to throw Wellington boots through his legs. As Mr Blair-Ford swung his boot, he was propelled head first to the ground.

He sued site operators CRS Adventures Ltd, arguing that centre staff had asked him to use an "unsafe" method, but a judge ruled: "No blame can be established for this freak accident."