An exclusive restaurant in London’s Docklands is demanding that customers ordering a rare burger sign a disclaimer that guards against legal action should the customer suffer food poisoning, the British press reported on Wednesday.
The current issue of the weekly Lawyer magazine reported that the document also had to be signed by the duty chef and the restaurant supervisor.
The ”prime gourmet steak burger” comes at a rare price — 12 pounds ($22).
In less than elegant English the disclaimer says the management ”can take no responsibility for minced beef products cooked in this manner, and would advise of cooking the minced beef products medium or above”.
The policy came to light when lawyer Tim Sanders was handed the waiver in the hotel’s Curve Restaurant after ordering a 280g medium rare steak burger.
”This fear of getting sued is getting more and more bizarre and this is just the latest example of it. It’s just getting ridiculous,” he told the magazine.
”I ordered a standard burger, cooked medium rare, and the waiter muttered something and walked away. Then he came back with a legal form which then had to be signed in triplicate, and which said: Unless you sign this, you can’t have your hamburger,” he said.
A spokesperson for Marriott International hotels said the hotel had stopped using the forms.
Stephen Sidkin, a commercial law expert, said the disclaimer would probably have little effect in law in any case.
”Under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 it’s not possible to exclude liability for death and personal injury,” he said. – Sapa-DPA