A Toti shopper is upset after her skirt was caught in an escalator at Galleria on Monday, 18 April.
Margo Hancox said she had stepped onto an escalator moving down towards the next level where Milky Lane is situated when the incident occurred between 2.30pm and 3pm.
“I heard a grinding, rasping sound and turned to look over my left shoulder to see if anyone else had heard it. I got no reaction, so I turned to face the front and I felt a tug on my skirt,” she said.
“I turned to my right, thinking the woman behind me was tugging to get my attention, but immediately noticed the escalator had somehow caught the hem of my skirt. It began to pull rather tight away from me as I moved down.
Impulse made me grab the bottom of the skirt as close as possible to the escalator rail side. The woman behind me saw what was happening and she too grabbed my skirt and together we pulled to yank myself free from the escalator’s grip.
I was lucky that I reacted very quickly, but I lost a small piece of my skirt. There could have been a far worse outcome.
Margo said she went to Galleria management to report the incident. They took her details and photographed the hole in her skirt. “I was told they would look at the security video footage and get back to me,” said Margo.
However, by Thursday, 21 April when she had received no feedback, she called Galleria. “I spoke to the same person who seemed surprised that the insurance company had not come back to me. He said it’s up to the insurance company to call me and said I must contact them.
Although I took down the details, I informed him that as centre management it was up to him to follow-up. He said he would give the man a call to tell him to get in touch with me, but I haven’t heard back from them.”
Margo said she fears Galleria may not be taking her complaint seriously, as they feel it’s just a minor mishap.
“I feel the least they can do is compensate me for the torn skirt. They could have acknowledged that they have public liability insurance and said here is a voucher for you for whatever the sum necessary to purchase a new skirt. I would have accepted it and walked away because there was no physical injury, even though I now have a phobia regarding escalators.
What if it had happened to an elderly pensioner? She may not have reacted as quickly as I did and it would have resulted in serious consequences.”
In Galleria’s defense, marketing manager, Anusha Timul said Margo wasn’t injured and only sustained a tear to her skirt. “At that time, she did not want to be compensated for any damages and her intention was to inform us of the incident.
We were unable to contact her, as she didn’t leave her contact details.
It is also important to note that her skirt was not caught on the escalator, but on the side cladding. She was standing on the extreme right with a flowing skirt.
With regards to her claim, the person she spoke to followed procedure. We don’t deal directly with claims at centre level. Our department at head office deals with risks and insurance claims. This was communicated to Mrs Hancox.”
