A woman who was knocked down and trampled on at a Robbie Williams concert has been awarded €25,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court.
Judge Jacqueline Linnane heard that Sandra Brady was caught by a surge of fans in the Phoenix Park, Dublin.
David Burke, counsel for Ms Brady, Ashbrook Avenue, Dundalk, Co Louth, told the court that on August 9th, 2003, she was one of 135,000 fans at what was the biggest open-air concert in Ireland.
Mr Burke said the concert promoters, MCD Promotions Ltd, Park Road, Dún Laoghaire, had employed 900 crowd-control bouncers. He said according to documentation provided to Ms Brady's legal team, this revealed a shortfall of some 160 bouncers.
Mr Burke said the promoters had originally estimated they would require 1,066 crowd- control staff.
Ms Brady, a 31-year-old beautician, said she had gone to the Phoenix Park with friends and, during the concert, she had queued at a food bar. She told Judge Linnane the area where fans were queuing for food had not been properly coralled off and she was hit by a surge of people. She had been knocked to the ground and trampled on.
Ms Brady said someone had stepped on her left wrist while she was on the ground. Subsequent X-rays in hospital revealed her wrist had been fractured. Her work as a beautician had been affected by the injury. She told the court that while the injury had resolved within a year, she had been left with a click in her wrist.
Judge Linnane awarded Ms Brady €25,000 damages against MCD Promotions which she said had put an awful lot of work into the running of the concert. Unfortunately, something had gone wrong on the occasion of the Robbie Williams showpiece.