Oscar’s Wine Bar and Bistro in Lancaster must pay £100,000 after Gaby Scanlon needed life-saving operation following consumption of cocktail

A wine bar has been fined £100,000 after a woman needed to have her stomach removed after drinking a smoking liquid nitrogen cocktail handed to her for free.

Gaby Scanlon, now 20, had been with friends at Oscar’s Wine Bar and Bistro in Lancaster when she was given the Nitro-Jägermeister shot in celebration of her 18th birthday. But upon drinking the normally £3.95 drink she described feeling agonising pain and was forced to loosen her clothing as smoke billowed from her mouth and nose.

Preston crown court heard on Thursday that she was left close to death after experiencing “an explosion” in her stomach four seconds after the cocktail was poured for her.

Scanlon said: “I turned to the man and asked if it was OK to drink. He said ‘yes’. Smoke was coming from my nose and mouth. Straight away I knew something was not right. My stomach expanded. The manager said nothing about waiting for it to die down.”

Scanlon from Heysham, Lancashire, was taken to the Royal Lancaster infirmary for surgery to remove her stomach and her small bowel connected with her oesophagus, to save her life.

Oscar’s Wine Bar and Bistro, which had only opened five months prior to the incident on 4 October 2012, pleaded guilty to one count of failing in the duty of an employer to ensure the safety of persons not in its employment, admitting it failed to ensure the shot-sized cocktail was safe for consumption. No risk assessment had been carried out on the dangers.

In passing sentence, judge Pamela Badley said the bar had shown a “flagrant disregard” and that its “failings fell very far short of standards”.

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Badley added: “It’s astonishing that no risk assessment had ever been carried out. There was a failure to heed warnings and advice from a senior health and safety officer. Overall there is evidence of serious systemic failings within the organisation.”

The bar had sold a range of cocktails using liquid nitrogen in order to create a smoking effect after company director, Andrew Dunn, saw similar drinks in the Berkeley Hotel in London. He was said to have found them alluring and was “intrigued by the dramatic effect”.

But senior health and safety officer Peter Lord, who visited the bar in May 2012 before the incident, said he had concerns about the drinks and sent a letter with guidance on liquid nitrogen usage, which received no response.

The court heard that Scanlon and her friends had been poured four of the drinks before she was told “the birthday girl could have a free shot”.

A verdict of not guilty was accepted by the crown against bar employee Matthew Harding, who denied failing in his duty to take reasonable care for the health and safety of others at work.

Scanlon had not been given any advice, with one friend saying that the barman had said: “Drink it while it’s still smoking.”

Prosecutor Barry Berlin said: “Immediately on consuming the drink she was taken violently ill, retching and vomiting and smoking from her nose and mouth. The liquid nitrogen itself is a dangerous product.”

Upon consuming the liquid nitrogen which is used for freezing warts, internal tissue was killed and the lining of her stomach was perforated. The court was told that three years on, Scanlon still suffers from pains.

Berlin added: “The investigation in this case uncovered serious systemic failings by this company and director.”

Training notes were said to have been “loose”, with staff told to wait 10 seconds until the liquid nitrogen had boiled off before consumption. But the rule, devised by the family-run company, was said to have been an arbitrary figure.

Berlin added: “The crown say the company is culpable for the injuries. They failed to ensure the safety of its customers. They served liquid nitrogen shots in cocktails without considering any suitable risk assessment. The serious injuries suffered show a failure by the company to ensure her safety. They knew it was dangerous and they didn’t properly police it.”

Dunn, of York, pleaded not guilty to being part of a corporate employer which failed in its duty to ensure the safety of persons not in its employment. The prosecution offered no evidence against him after a payment of £20,000 towards court costs was made.

Kevin McLoughlin, for Oscar’s Wine Bar, said that the family had been left mortified and apologised to Scanlon and her family for the errors and misjudgments that were made.

He added: “The company and the family are truly sorry. At no time did they see anything warning them of the risks of ingestion. The essence of this calamity was the ignorance on the part of the company.”