Seagull attack victim sues owners of office building over bird peril that left her badly injured

• Cathie Kelly fell after bird struck as she went to lunch
• Now she is suing the owner of the office building she works at
• She said: 'It was screaming at me. I was terrified'
  

By Brian Horne

Published: 16:25 EDT, 12 March 2014 | Updated: 17:17 EDT, 12 March 2014

Injured: Cathie Kelly fell during thedive-bombing. Now she's taking legal action the owner of the office building she works at

A 59-year-old woman is suing her company's landlord after she was badly injured in a vicious attack - by a seagull.

Cathie Kelly lost her footing and fell heavily after losing her shoe in the feathered assailant's attack.

The project officer, who works in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland was left upset and injured by the bird’s dive-bombing.

Mrs Kelly is now suing the owner of the office building, claiming it did not take sufficient care for her safety.

The Court of Session in Edinburgh heard how a nearby rubbish dump was a magnet for gulls which nested on the roof of the former school and became aggressive when they had chicks.

Judge Paul Arthurson, QC, heard of dashes in and out of the building using umbrellas and how garages in the vicinity fly helium balloons to protect their cars from droppings.

Previously there had been patrols using owls and hawks to try to get rid of the menace – but Mrs Kelly, from Glasgow, claimed these had stopped.

She told how she stopped for lunch on June 17, 2010 and planned to head for a nearby burger van.

She said it was impossible to see through the stained glass of the door as she went outside.

‘I walked out the door and I barely got to the bottom of the steps and this gull came for me at full speed, wings outstretched, coming right for my face.

‘I realised I would never get to the van so I had to get back into the building for safety.’

Mrs Kelly continued: ‘It was screaming at me. I was terrified. I thought it was going for my face.

‘I couldn’t look up to see it because it was right over my head and I really thought it was going to hurt me. I was shouting but it would not go away.’

Winged menace: Gulls are said to be a problem in the area where the attack occurred. File picture

The court heard how crouching Mrs Kelly turned as she tried to regain the safety of the building – but her left shoe came off and she stumbled onto the steps.

‘I was badly winded and I was in instant pain. It was very painful.’

Later that afternoon someone noticed her crying and gave her  a painkiller – but she was still  suffering and had to go home early.

Her daughter took her to hospital that evening.

Court papers describe how the incident left Mrs Kelly ‘shaken and distressed’. She was away from her work with CVS Inverclyde for two weeks then took to carrying an umbrella to protect her as she made her way to and from her office.

Pains in her chest and thigh made sitting at a computer difficult and her husband and daughter had to step in to help with shopping,  cooking and other household tasks. For weeks she could only sleep upright and with the help of painkillers.

Nesting gulls tend to be aggressive in response to predators and intruders and present 'a serious risk of injury to people moving within their vicinity'

Mrs Kelly said that towers beside the door were a favourite nesting site for gulls. Discussing the incident with colleagues, she learned that a chick had fallen from the nest on the day she was attacked.

Paperwork she has submitted to the court asserts ‘urban colonies of nesting gulls were a well-recognised phenomenon in the vicinity’.

Nesting gulls tend to be aggressive in response to predators and intruders and present ‘a serious risk of injury to people moving within their vicinity’, claim Mrs  Kelly’s legal team.

Ann Walsh, a manager with Enterprise Childcare, who also works in the Ladyburn business centre, said the gull problem had been going on for years.

‘I was attacked myself by gulls,’ she said. ‘I was pooed on as part of the attack.’ Mrs Walsh, 45, continued: ‘I had to bring a brolly to work and when they were particularly bad I had the brolly up.’

She said she was angry and had raised her concern with the building’s management.

‘You shouldn’t have to be dodging seagulls when you come to work in the morning,’ she said.
Landlord Riverside Inverclyde (Property Holdings) denies liability.

It says Mrs Kelly was partly to blame because she did not look where she was putting her feet.

If she proves the building owner was entirely at fault, she stands to receive £7,000 in damages.

The hearing continues.

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