By Max Misoka. Last Updated 27th June 2022. Whether you’re visiting with friends, meeting colleagues or grabbing a quick lunch, you may choose to order food from the popular restaurant known as Nando’s. If you have allergies, you might consult Nando’s allergy menu first, to see what could be safe for you to eat without having an allergic reaction. You may even ask your server ‘Is Nando’s dairy-free?’ or ‘Is this dish safe to eat with a nut allergy?’ This article examines allergic reaction claims against Nando’s.
Taking such steps may give you confidence that you would not be served food that could cause an allergic reaction. But what if the allergy information on the guide is incorrect, or the server doesn’t relay your allergy to the kitchen staff, and they prepare your food with allergens in it? If you suffer an allergic reaction for these reasons, could you make a compensation claim against the restaurant? And, if so, what could you claim for?
What’s In The Guide?
We have put together this guide to explain what you may need to know before you make a claim. In the section below, we explain what symptoms you could suffer if you have a nut allergy, dairy allergy, or any other type of food allergy. We also walk you through the rules on how restaurants should treat customers with allergies, including what information should be included on the allergy menu, and how servers should respond if you ask them to prepare your food without allergens.
We also offer guidance on the types of compensation you could claim. If you would like to begin a claim, our advisors would be happy to offer free legal advice. And they could even put you in touch with a No Win No Fee solicitor to help you start a personal injury claim for an allergic reaction. All you need to do is call our team on 0161 696 9685.
Select A Section
- A Guide To Allergic Reaction Claims Against Nando’s
- What Amount of Compensation For An Allergic Reaction Could I Receive?
- Further Damages Which May Be Claimed
- What Is A Nando’s Allergy?
- Food Allergen And Intolerance Laws
- How Negligence Could Expose People To Allergens
- Which Allergies Could I Tell A Restaurant About?
- What Are The Effects Of Eating Food You Are Allergic To?
- Failure To Display Allergy Warning Information
- I Didn’t Say I Have An Allergy, Could I Make A Claim?
- Are Food Allergies Common?
- Nando’s Menu
- How Food Allergy Claims Work
- No Win No Fee Allergic Reaction Claims Against Nando’s
- Contact Our Claims Team
- More Information On Food Allergy Claims
A Guide To Allergic Reaction Claims Against Nando’s
Did you suffer an allergic reaction after eating at Nando’s? If so, you may have experienced some unpleasant and uncomfortable symptoms. Allergies could cause you to suffer symptoms ranging from mildly unpleasant digestive problems to, in some cases, life-threatening breathing difficulties.
This guide explains what you may need to know if you’re considering making a personal injury claim. In the below sections, we talk about the compensation you could claim if you suffer an allergic reaction because:
- Serving staff have given you negligent allergy advice on what’s contained in certain dishes.
- They have ignored your request to leave ingredients out of your meal.
- The allergy menu is incorrect.
We also explain the rules surrounding what allergens should be on the Nando’s allergy list, and how you should approach ordering if you know you have an allergy. Finally, we talk you through how food allergy claims work and explain how long you could have to make a claim. If you would like free legal advice tailored to your case, our advisors would be happy to give this to you over the phone. So if there’s something you’re not sure of, please don’t hesitate to call us.
What Amount of Compensation For An Allergic Reaction Could I Receive?
As explained in more detail below, there are several losses you can potentially claim for if you’re wanting to make a personal injury claim. General damages compensation relates to the suffering and pain, both physically and psychologically, caused by the injury. The Judicial College Guidelines can give you a clearer idea of what you could receive for this.
What you can receive for this head of claim is based on factors such as the extent of the injury and how badly the injury has negatively impacted your life. The figures below relate to successful claims from England and Wales and have been taken from the latest guidelines, published in 2022.
However, please bear in mind that these figures are just guidelines as there are many aspects of a claim that can dictate the potential amount of compensation you receive.
| Type of Injury | Severity | Description | Compensation Bracket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kidney | (a) | Permanent damage to or loss of both kidneys. | £169,400 to £210,400 |
| Damage/Illness caused by a Non-Traumatic Injury (like food poisoning) | (b)(i) | Toxicosis of a severe nature causes vomiting, diarrhoea, fever and acute pain leading to days and weeks of continuous incontinence. | £38,430 to £52,500 |
| Damage/Illness caused by a Non-Traumatic Injury (like food poisoning) | (b)(ii) | Food poisoning that is serious but short-lived with most symptoms diminishing over two to four weeks. | £9,540 to £19,200 |
| Damage/Illness caused by a Non-Traumatic Injury (like food poisoning) | (b)(iii) | Significant discomfort, stomach cramps and fatigue caused by food poisoning. | £3,950 to £9,540 |
| Damage/Illness caused by a Non-Traumatic Injury (like food poisoning) | (b)(iv) | Varying degrees of diarrhoea, cramps and pain that lasts for some days of weeks. | £910 to £3,950 |
| Dermatitis and Other Skin Conditions | (a) | Dermatitis of both hands, leading to soreness and cracked skin that affects domestic capability and employment. | £13,740 to £19,200 |
| Dermatitis and Other Skin Conditions | (b) | Dermatitis of one or both hands for a significant period of time. However, the symptoms do lessen with treatment. | £8,640 to £11,410 |
| Spleen | (a) | Loss of spleen that leads to a continual risk of infection internally. | £20,800 to £26,290 |
| PTSD | Moderate | Any symptoms that lead to continuing negative effects will not be particularly difficult to deal with. | £8,180 to £23,150 |
| PTSD | Less Severe | A virtually full recovery will be made within a couple of years. | £3,950 to £8,180 |
You may also want to know how Nando’s complaints work. You should know that you can still make a formal complaint if you claim, but you must not accept any form of compensation from them if they offer it to you. For example, if they offer you a discount on your next meal and you accept, this would be considered compensation and you would no longer be able to claim.
If the Nando’s allergen menu was not made available to you, and you became ill as a result, please contact us for a free consultation using the details above.
Further Damages Which May Be Claimed
When claiming compensation for an allergy, there are different types of damages that could make up your compensation payout.
General Damages
All illustrated in the table above, you could receive compensation for the loss of amenity, suffering and pain of your allergic reaction. These are known as general damages.
Special Damages
You may be surprised to learn that you could claim for more than just your injuries. Special damages could compensate you for the out-of-pocket expenses and financial losses you experience due to your injuries. These could include:
Care costs
You could recover the costs of any care at home you require due to your injuries. If your family provided gracious care, they could be compensated for the time they spent looking after you.
Medical expenses
While NHS treatment is usually free at the point of access, you could incur prescription charges, or you may have to pay for counselling or physiotherapy, for example. If so, you could claim these costs as special damages.
Income losses
Any loss of income you experience because of your injuries could be included within your claim. You could even claim for lost bonuses or overtime, or future loss of income, in some cases.
Travel expenses
Should you pay for transportation costs associated with lawyer’s meetings or medical appointments, you could also claim for these kinds of expenses as special damages.
Evidence Of Special Damages
You could only claim special damages for the expenses you prove. Evidence such as bank statements, payslips, receipts and credit card statements could be useful if proving you’ve suffered financial harm. Therefore, it could be a good idea to keep these documents safe, so you could provide them to your solicitor at the appropriate time.
What Is A Nando’s Allergy?
An allergic reaction could occur because you’ve eaten or drank something at a restaurant that contains an ingredient you are allergic to. When the human body consumes something it mistakenly sees as a threat, it launches an immune system response. This response is what could cause symptoms of an allergic reaction. The symptoms you experience could vary depending on the type of reaction you suffer:
IgE-mediated Allergic Reaction Symptoms
Symptoms of this type of reaction could include:
- Wheezing
- Trouble swallowing
- Swollen throat, mouth body or face
- Vomiting/nausea
- Feeling faint
- Hay fever-type symptoms
- Hives
Non-IgE-mediated Allergic Reaction Symptoms
Symptoms of this kind of reaction may take some time to present themselves. You could experience any of the following hours, or even days after consuming an allergen:
- Vomiting (with no diarrhoea)
- Cracked, dry, red skin
- Constipation
- Cramping
Anaphylaxis
Anaphylaxis is something that could constitute a medical emergency. Symptoms of anaphylaxis usually come on quickly and could include any symptoms of an IgE-mediated reaction as well as:
- Tight chest
- Collapsing
- Swelling of the tongue
- Having trouble breathing
If you have a food allergy, this may mean you have to take care when eating in restaurants and from takeaways, to ensure you don’t consume food containing the allergens you react to. If you suffer an allergic reaction because the restaurant has not taken steps to provide accurate allergen information, or has ignored your request for a meal without allergens, you could make a claim for compensation against them.
Food Allergen And Intolerance Laws
The Food Safety Act 1990 is something food sellers should be aware of. This legislation means that food sellers, including restaurants, should only sell food that is safe for consumption. Ways a restaurant could negligently cause a consumer to suffer:
- They sell you food negligently. For example, you may have nut allergies and ask servers to prepare your food without nuts, but they fail to do so without informing you.
- The allergy list they provide is inaccurate or incomplete. There are certain allergens that food sellers should warn you of but have failed to do so.
- Your food is cross-contaminated with an allergen. Even if your meal does not contain a certain allergen but has been cooked in the same area there could be a chance of cross-contamination. It is important that food sellers inform of this.
How Negligence Could Expose People To Allergens
Negligence in a restaurant could expose people to allergens in a number of ways. For example:
- If you ask the server for Nando’s rice ingredients for an allergy, and they do not give you accurate information, this could cause you to be exposed to an allergen.
- You consult the menu for nut allergy-safe foods, and the information on the menu is incorrect, leading to you being exposed to nuts in a dish you order.
- If you ask a server to prepare your food without an allergen, they agree to this but it comes with the allergen included.
- A food server not informing you that food cannot be prepared without a specified allergen, and serving it to you anyway.
If you’re not sure whether an allergic reaction came about because of negligence, please don’t hesitate to call our team. Our advisors could offer you free legal advice and check your eligibility to claim.
Which Allergies Could I Tell A Restaurant About?
If you know you could potentially suffer a peanut allergy reaction if you consume food with peanuts, you could tell the restaurant about your allergies. In some cases, you could ask the server to leave out peanuts when preparing your food. Other requests you could make could include asking for the exclusion of:
- Wheat
- Cheese
- Eggs
- Nuts
- Tomatoes
- Fish
- Oats
- Milk
According to government guidelines, the restaurant should advise you of allergens. If they can’t take a triggering ingredient out of the meal, they should tell you, rather than serve it to you. That way, you could choose another dish.
What Are The Effects Of Eating Food You Are Allergic To?
If you’ve given Nando’s your allergy information and asked them to leave an ingredient out of your food for that reason, they should take care when preparing your food. If they forget to honour your request or leave the ingredient in without telling you, you could suffer an allergic reaction. Please note a restaurant may not always be able to leave ingredients out of meals so you may have to choose another meal.
The effects of eating food you are allergic to could include physical symptoms, but also mental. You may find that, after a severe reaction, you have continuing feelings of anxiety and stress. Allergy UK provides helpful advice on how to cope. You may also consider including the psychological effects of the incident in your personal injury claim.
To discuss how this could be done, call our friendly advisors on the number at the top of the page.
Failure To Display Allergy Warning Information
There are a huge number of food allergies that people could suffer from. These could include:
- Nut
- Cereal
- Egg
- Fruit
- Milk
- Soy
- Wheat
- Sulphur dioxide
- Celery
- Shellfish
- Seafood
- Mustard
- Fish
- Lupin
Some allergies are more common than others. This is why, although Nando’s should give you accurate information relating to allergens in their food by request, there are certain allergens they have a legal obligation to inform you in writing. These are the 14 specific allergens.
I Didn’t Say I Have An Allergy, Could I Make A Claim?
If you forget to tell restaurant staff about your allergies this will not affect your claim. If you fail to check the menu before you order and suffer an allergic reaction then you will not be able to make a claim. Consumers have to take some responsibility for their own health and safety. If you have an allergy it is vital you check a meal’s ingredients before you order.
As we mentioned, there are 14 allergens that a restaurant must inform you of in writing. They could do this on their main menu, or a separate allergy list. They could also display this information on their website.
The 14 allergens you must be warned of in writing are:
- Molluscs
- Sesame
- Milk
- Celery
- Fish
- Peanuts
- Crustaceans
- Sulphites/Sulphur dioxide
- Molluscs
- Cereals containing gluten
- Tree nuts
- Mustard
- Eggs
- Lupin
Call our advisors for free legal advice.
Are Food Allergies Common?
If you’re under the impression that food allergies are quite rare, you might be surprised to find that, according to Food.gov.uk, a staggering 2 million UK residents have a diagnosis of a food allergy. Additionally, 1 in 100 people in the UK has coeliac disease, equating to around 600,000 people.
Allergy UK reveals that around 1 in 1,000 people suffer anaphylaxis-type reactions. Anaphylaxis hospital admissions have gone up by 615% in the twenty years from 1992-2012.
Nando’s Menu
We would always urge allergy sufferers to check up-to-date Nando’s allergy information before ordering. If you have a dairy allergy, for example, you should ask to see the menu before ordering to make sure the item you’re ordering doesn’t contain dairy products. To give you an idea of food at the restaurant we have listed some items below. While at the time of posting these items are on the menu, they may be subject to change.
Burgers, Pittas, Wraps
- Grilled Chicken Wrap
- Chicken Pitta (grilled)
- Grilled Chicken Burger
- Double Chicken Wrap
- Chicken Pitta (Double)
- Double Chicken Burger
Veggie & Sides
- Beanie Burger
- Coleslaw
- Corn on the Cob
- Creamy Mash
- Garlic Bread
- Beanie Pitta
- Long Stem Broccoli
- Macho Peas
- PERi-Salted Chips
- Spicy Rice
- Beanie Wrap
Desserts
- Carrot Cake
- Choc-A-Lot Cake
- Gooey Caramel Cheesecake
- Naughty Natas
- Salted Caramel Brownie
- White Choc & Raspberry Cheesecake
How Food Allergy Claims Work
To make a claim for compensation for an allergic reaction against Nando’s, you’d need to prove:
- The restaurant had a duty of care towards you.
- There was a breach of that duty.
- You suffered an allergic reaction because of that breach.
You would also need to ensure that you made your claim within the personal injury claims time limit for your case, which is usually 3 years.
Using A Solicitor
You may prefer to use a solicitor to help you launch a claim so that you could benefit from:
- A less stressful experience – a lawyer could help put together all the paperwork for your claim so that you don’t have to take on the legal legwork yourself.
- Larger compensation payouts – a lawyer could advise you on whether to accept an initial offer of compensation or whether to fight for more. They could also ensure you don’t miss out on any of the damages you could be eligible to claim.
- Dispute resolution – a lawyer could also deal with disputes and refusals of your claim. They could support you through court if your claim makes it there. However, many claims are handled before this becomes necessary.
Our advisors would be happy to give you free legal advice on whether you could have a valid claim, and could connect you with a No Win No Fee solicitor to help you with your case. All you need to do is call.
No Win No Fee Allergic Reaction Claims Against Nando’s
Are you now considering using a personal injury solicitor to help you with an allergy claim? If so, you could seek out a No Win No Fee personal injury solicitor, who could take on your case without you having to pay their fees upfront. Under the terms of a No Win No Fee agreement, you would pay no solicitor fees until your claim ends. Even then, you would only pay their fees if they achieve a compensation payout for you. Such claims usually work as follows:
- Your chosen solicitor sends you a document called a No Win No Fee Agreement. Within the text of the agreement, you will see details of the success fee you’ll pay your solicitor out of your compensation payout. This success fee is subject to a legal cap. It is usually representative of a small percentage of your compensation settlement.
- You sign and send back the agreement, and your lawyer begins to put together the evidence surrounding your case. They negotiate for compensation on your behalf and, if necessary support you as your case goes through the courts. (We should mention that a large number of cases settle outside the court.)
- If your case wins your solicitor deducts the pre-agreed success fee only after you’ve received the compensation. You then benefit from the balance.
- Should your claim not result in a settlement, you would not pay the success fee to your solicitor at all.
If you want to find out more about funding a solicitor with a No Win No Fee agreement, why not read our handy guide. Otherwise, you could always call us and we’ll be happy to talk to you about No Win No Fee solicitors in more detail.
Contact Our Claims Team
Would you like to benefit from free legal advice about your allergy claim, or would you like to get started with a claim right away? Either way, we could help. Not only could our advisors provide a free eligibility check, but they could also find you a solicitor to help you begin a claim. To find out if you have a valid case for an allergic reaction claim against Nando’s all you need to do is:
- Call the advice.co.uk team on 0161 696 9685
- Fill in the contact form and allow them to call you back
- Use our instant live chat service.
More Information On Food Allergy Claims
Allergy Court Cases: Some interesting information about allergy court cases can be found here.
Treating Allergies: Here, you can find an NHS guide on allergy treatments.
Children’s Allergies: A guide explaining how to handle children’s allergies can be found here.
Allergy Claims: General information on allergy claims is included in this guide.
Case Study: This case study relates to a food poisoning incident. You may find this of interest.
Making Successful Claims: Our guide explains what you may need to know to have a successful claim.
Thank you for reading our guide about allergic reaction claims against Nando’s.
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