The mixer tap in a hotel room where a grandfather died in a bath of scalding water was 30 years old and a ‘nuisance’ for guests, an inquiry heard.
Wallace Hunter, 75, died from third degree burns to 83 per cent of his body, having gone for a shower at the Pitlochry Hydro Hotel, in Perthshire, in December 2019.
A fatal accident inquiry at Alloa Sheriff Court heard the bathroom door opened outwards, bolted on the inside and had no exterior emergency release as would be the case in new buildings.
A guest in the room below raised the alarm after seeing hot water ‘cascading’ down into his own bathroom.
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Hotel manager Christopher Stanton, 56, yesterday told the inquiry the problems that led to Mr Hunter’s death could have been solved decades earlier and he should have foreseen an issue with forcing the door open.
Grandfather Wallace Hunter received third degree burns to 83 per cent of his body at the Pitlochry Hydro Hotel, Perthshire, in December 2019
The incident happened at the Pitlochry Hydro Hotel in Perthshire (pictured)
Hotel manager Christopher Stanton, 56, yesterday told the inquiry the problems that led to Mr Hunter’s death could have been solved decades earlier and he should have foreseen an issue with forcing the door open.
He said the bath taps had long been the subject of complaints from guests, who said they were unable to regulate the water temperature.
The inquiry heard a Health and Safety Executive investigation into the tragedy found the mixer tap in the bathroom was more than 30 years old and its temperature control was ‘very sensitive’.
The control also did not satisfactorily isolate the hot water when the cold water shut off.
Mr Stanton said: ‘I’d be the first one to admit it was a nuisance. One tap did the bath and another tap did the shower and then there was a control in the middle of it and it did cause quite a lot of confusion for customers.’
Wallace Hunter (left) and his son Kier Hunter
Desperate efforts were made to save Mr Hunter but he sadly died after suffering third degree burns to 83 per cent of his body in the incident. Pictured: Wallace Hunter with his family
The inquiry previously heard staff struggled to break down the bathroom door after Mr Hunter’s wife raised the alarm.
Mr Stanton, general manager at the hotel for almost 25 years, accepted he was partly to blame for what had occurred with the door. He said: ‘If asked a direct question – could I have foreseen this was a problem? The answer has to be yes.
‘But I didn’t, and nor did anybody else. I wish I had.
‘I just shudder at the reality that came about that morning because of something that could have been dealt with sooner – 20 years, 30 years before.’
The inquiry into the death of Mr Hunter, of Eaglesham, Renfrewshire, continues.
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