Personal injury claims to be launched by families of E. coli children

Posted 13/06/2010

The families of 37 children affected by an E. coli outbreak at a Surrey petting zoo have said they will launch compensation claims for personal injury against the owners.

Godstone Farm in Surrey was the source of the outbreak of the deadly 0157 strain of the bug in summer 2009.

However, it later emerged that the owners kept the farm open even after the first victims had fallen ill.

With a report into the incident due out this week, it has been revealed that those affected are to take group legal action for negligence in order to claim compensation for their ordeals.

Two-year-old twins from Kent were among the youngest victims and sustained permanent damage to their kidneys as a result.

According to statistics published by the BBC, seven per cent of E. coli 0157 victims suffer lasting renal damage.

Only a tiny number of the pathogens need to be present to make people ill.