Story By: Anastasia Tsougka, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

A man has won a legal battle against a hotel after the shower head in his room was blasted off by high water pressure and hit him in the eye, which he subsequently lost.

The 38-year-old truck driver from Macedonia successfully sued the hotel in Lyon in France and received 367,500 GBP in damages.

The incident happened back in 2011 while the driver stopped for a night at the French city, which is located in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region.

The unnamed man went to freshen up but the shower head flew off due to the high water pressure and hit his face, causing him to lose his right eye.

Following the injury, the truck driver was no longer able to work and held the hotel responsible.

He filed a lawsuit against the hotel which was initially dismissed, however the Paris Court of Appeals said that there was sufficient evidence to suggest that the hotel may have broken safety rules.

Eventually, the appeal court reached the verdict that the Lyon hotel was responsible for the man’s injury as experts had judged that his story was consistent with his injury.

Among them, an engineer had pointed out that high water pressure could have propelled the shower head if it was “badly engaged”.

Also, it was proved that the hotel had quite a few repairs to make to its water system.

The man initially claimed for 1.3 million EUR in damages (1.2 million GBP), but the court noted that he has since worked as a caretaker, painter and employee for the National Organisation of the Blind in Spain, where he resides.

In the end, the establishment was forced to pay him 412,000 EUR (367,500 GBP) in damages.