A former Italian model crippled in a plane crash has launched a pounds 100 m compensation claim in the High Court. Alessia Spallone, who lives in London, is suing Robert Page, a wealthy hedge fund manager who crashed his private plane in St Tropez during a trip with Spallone in 2002. The accident occurred at an airport at which Page was not qualified to land.

If Spallone wins the payout, it will outstrip any individual award made in the British courts. The record is thought to be an award of about £ 20 m to a woman brain-damaged during childbirth as a result of hospital negligence. Spallone, 24, is expected to be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life after she broke her back in the crash in August 2002. Theaccident happened when Page flew with Spallone and two other people for a bank holiday weekend break in the south of France.

“I had never met him before and as a student even the easyJet flight was too expensive, so I was delighted to be offered a free ride by Page, who was a friend of a friend,” said Spallone. “We met at the airport and the flight was very hot and long.” However, the trip from Biggin Hill in Kent to St Tropez ended in catastrophe after a disastrous landing. The plane crashed and careered off the runway. “He took a sharp turn to land and touched down halfway down the runway,” said Spallone. “He had all the time to retry the landing, but he seemed to panic, slammed on the brakes and we skidded. There were three impacts and my back was broken on the second impact. I was trapped in the plane for two hours.”

<I>Source: Times of India</I>