Sailor who claims career ended when captain’s dinner table fell on her is suing MoD for £500K
A FORMER sailor who claims her career was ended when the captain’s dinner table fell on her in rough seas is suing the MoD for £500,000.
Joleen Williams, 38, said her spine was damaged by being pinned against a filing cabinet when the ship turned while she ate with the captain.
She was medically discharged three years after the 2014 incident off Dorset on HMS St Albans.
Miss Williams claimed there was no warning the ship was suddenly about to change direction.
Its captain, Commander Catherine Jordan, now a commodore, said a tannoy alert was sounded.
On hearing it, she said, crew members “stabilised themselves” and the dinner items so the crockery “did not slide off the table as the ship rolled”.
The MoD also says the table was secured to the floor, the continuing Central London county court trial heard.
The Sun told earlier this year how defence chiefs shelled out £160million in compensation to troops who have complained about cold feet.
Thousands sued after developing trench foot or similar injuries.
Many legal firms now specialise in suing the MoD on behalf of military personnel who claim they have suffered cold injuries.