A UK border guard who sued the Home Office after breaking his ankle during a 14-hour shift spent rescuing asylum seekers in the Channel has won an £80,000 legal battle.
Alan Quartermain, 66, had been working since 2am and had just participated in his third rescue of the day when he was injured getting back onto his boat on the afternoon of June 3, 2021.
The veteran seaman was escorting a paramedic to attend to an injured person onboard his vessel at Dover when he fell whilst boarding, slipping on a surface he said was covered in water, fuel and vomit.
Mr Quartermain sustained a broken ankle in the accident and was in a protective boot for five weeks, but said the ongoing impact forced him to retire from the sea, the only work he had ever known.
He sued his former employer, the Home Office, which was this week ordered to pay out £9,000 in compensation and pay Mr Quartermain’s lawyers’ bills, estimated at more than £70,000.
The judge, Registrar Richard Davison, said there was no reason why a handrail had not been attached to make it safer for Mr Quartermain to get onto the boat.
London‘s Admiralty Court, a specialist branch of the High Court which deals with law at sea, heard that Mr Quartermain had been a seaman all his working life, starting at the age of 16.
He was engaged in patrolling the Channel in June 2021, when he was called out in a rigid inflatable boat at around 2am.

Alan Quartermain, 66, had been working since 2am and had just participated in his third rescue of the day when he was injured getting back onto his boat on the afternoon of June 3, 2021
Mr Quartermain, pictured outside court, sustained a broken ankle in the accident and was in a protective boot for five weeks, but said the ongoing impact forced him to retire from the sea
Giving evidence, he told the judge it had been ‘a particularly busy day,’ that his team had been ‘constantly backwards and forwards’ and on at least their third small boat rescue of the day when he was hurt 14-and-a-half hours later.
He had returned to Dover with migrants from a craft and disembarked them all, save for one who had been injured in their crossing and needed medical attention.
In escorting a paramedic to the boat, known as HMC Alert, he fell, slipping as he stepped onboard via a storage container referred to as a ‘baton box.’
‘The claimant submits that the deck and baton box had become befouled with vomit, urine, fuel or other contaminants, causing a foreseeable risk of slipping,’ said his barrister, Benjamin Rose.
‘A handle or guard rail ought to have been affixed to the baton box to allow for safe boarding and disembarkation.
‘The claimant contends that the absence of this handle deprived the claimant of the ability to arrest his fall.
‘The defendant’s own investigation report…concludes that steps should be taken to reduce the effect of fouling and contamination of the deck and that a guard or handrail ought to be fitted to the baton box.’
In his evidence, Mr Quartermain said that, had the boat’s removable handrail been attached at the time, he would have grabbed it as he boarded.
Mr Quartermain (third from right) sued his former employer, the Home Office, which was this week ordered to pay out £9,000 in compensation and pay Mr Quartermain’s lawyers’ bills, estimated at more than £70,000
A judge ruled there was no reason why a guard or handrail was not fitted on HMC Alert (pictured)
Mr Quartermain had been working for 14.5 hours when he had the accident, after rescuing asylum seekers from small boats in the Channel (stock image)
‘I believe a handrail would have, if not prevented it, would have arrested that fall slightly and not had such consequences,’ he said.
The seaman, who was an officer in the Border Force Marine Command at the time, was off work for 11 weeks after the accident.
But he said he suffered further problems after that, had to have a bone spur removed and was left concerned about his mobility, leading to him retiring in 2023.
‘My confidence was affected and my ability to help my colleagues,’ he said.
‘I wanted to remain at sea. That’s what I have known, but there wasn’t much in the way of adjustments they could do.
‘I thought, ‘actually I’m not sure if I can do my job as well as I used to’.’
For the Home Office, barrister Alex Littlefair denied that it was under a duty to provide a handrail.
‘Whatever method the Home Office took, there was necessarily going to be some balancing of the risk,’ he said.
‘If the handrail was left there, somebody might use it as a weapon.’
The Home Office also claimed that, because the vessel was engaged in search and rescue, its duty was limited to having to act ‘so far as is reasonably practicable to ensure the health and safety of the worker when performing that activity.’
Giving judgment following a trial at the Admiralty Court, Registrar Davison found in favour of Mr Quartermain on his claim.
Although the boat was still engaged in search and rescue operations, health and safety risks could have been better mitigated by attaching the removable handrail.
‘There seems to be no real reason why it wasn’t fitted on this occasion,’ he said.
He awarded Mr Quartermain £9,000 compensation and said the Home Office would have to pay his lawyers’ bills, to be assessed at a later date, but estimated at more than £70,000.