My son, 18, died an agonising death after Byron Burgers meal triggered allergy – the law must change to save lives

WHEN Owen Carey travelled to London to celebrate his 18th birthday with his girlfriend, he was looking forward to a slap-up meal and a trip to the aquarium.

But the celebrations ended in tragedy when the teenager was struck down by a severe allergic reaction after eating chicken at a branch of Byron Burgers.

Just 55 minutes after the meal Owen, from Crowborough, Sussex, collapsed and, despite the efforts of paramedics and doctors, he died at St Thomas’s hospital the same afternoon.

For his grieving family the tragic death, in April 2017, is all the more painful because it was entirely preventable.

Owen, who had numerous food allergies, had asked the waiter about possible trigger foods but was not told the chicken was marinated in buttermilk and there was no mention of the dairy product on the menu.

Four years on, as the UK returns to eating out after lockdown, the family are calling for a new law forcing restaurants to print allergen information on their menus.

Owen’s Law, as the proposed legislation is called, would also force waiters to ask about allergies before taking orders, in a two-pronged attack to save lives.

“Owen was well-versed from a young age about his allergies and always checked in restaurants and, on this occasion, he had asked the waiter,” dad Paul Carey tells The Sun.

“Had the waiter listened, or the buttermilk been listed on the menu, Owen would be with us today.”

In the last decade 150 people in the UK have died from anaphylaxis – or severe allergic reaction – and thousands more have survived potentially fatal attacks.

Over 36,000 Brits are prescribed auto-adrenalin injectors – often known as Epipens after the most common brand – which can temporarily reduce the swelling caused by anaphylaxis.

The sudden death of Owen, who had multiple allergies but had never had an anaphylactic reaction before, has devastated the family.

“If someone dies at the end of their life then it's sad but it’s the natural course of things,” says sister Emma Kocher.

“But losing Owen at 18, we're grieving a life that could have been as much as the son and brother we've lost, and that breaks our hearts.”

Caring lad with bright future

At the time of his 18th birthday, Owen was in sixth form at Skinner’s grammar school in Kent and looking forward to going to university to study computer science.

“Owen was one of life's inherently good people,” says Emma, 36.

“Everyone liked him, he always stuck up for the underdog. He was incredibly loving and good fun, always pranking us.”

Emma and older brother Daniel were 14 and 16, respectively, when their little brother was born and Paul says the new arrival was a “lovely surprise” for him and Owen’s mum, Moira.

At nine, he became an uncle and was incredibly close to Emma’s kids Gulliver, 12, Ivy, 10 and Roberta – known as Bertie – who is now seven.

“There aren't many nine-year-olds that grasp the idea of being an uncle with both hands but he was awesome with them,” says Emma..

“We had lots of amazing family holidays and he would take them off and wear them out. They had so much fun and we're so lucky that we had him in our lives.”

The family celebrated Owen’s 18th on April 7, 2017, and two weeks later his girlfriend, Martha Boddy, arranged a day out to the Star Wars exhibition at the O2 and the London Aquarium as a birthday treat.

The couple met up with Emma’s husband Richard, Gulliver and Daniel at the exhibition before going for lunch.

The party chose Byron because of concerns that the food in their original choice of restaurant was cooked in nut oil.

Owen ordered grilled chicken and chips after checking with the waiter, but even as he tucked in he said the meat tasted “odd”, so he only ate half.

By the time he and Martha left the group and got on a tube he was already suffering stomach cramps and feeling out of breath.

“The anaphylactic reaction caused his airways to swell up,” explains Paul.

“Often with allergic reactions the mouth swells up but because Owen had ingested the chicken, he was swelling up from the inside.”

Recognising his symptoms, Owen asked staff at the London Eye for an Epipen – but was told they had none – and seconds later he collapsed.

A passing paramedic and two ambulance crews battled to save his life but, at 4.30pm, he died in the hospital, with Martha by his side.

Screams of anguish over tragic news

Emma, who had been told he was in hospital, was on a train from Winchester when Daniel called her to say “Owen’s gone.”

“At first, I didn't understand,” she says. “Then it sank in, and I was wailing on the train.

“But I had to tell Richard, who was still driving, and I was trying to get a hold of Mum and Dad for an hour.

“Mum was in the garden and her phone was inside and Dad was at his house in North Cornwall with a poor signal.

“I just felt so panicky, trying to coordinate everything while trying to deal with this enormous information.

“It felt like I was separated from my body, like I couldn't feel my limbs when I was walking. I was in total shock.”

“It felt like I was separated from my body, like I couldn't feel my limbs when I was walking. I was in total shock.”

When she finally spoke to her dad and blurted out the horrific news, Paul says he froze but can’t remember his reaction.

“He screamed,” says Emma. “It was awful. Dad has always been the strength in the family and hearing him scream like that was so hard.”

Paul jumped in the car and, with tears streaming down his face, drove for five hours to be with his son.

“At one point, I had to fill up with fuel and I was trembling because my hands had been gripping the steering wheel so tight,” he says.

“I walked into the garage crying, put £40 cash on the table and walked out.”

The trauma of seeing Owen’s body, still in the resuscitation room with tubes down his throat, still haunts the family.

“Owen’s neck was really wide and his cheeks were swollen,” says Emma.

“He just didn't look like him. It felt so surreal.”

No compensation from Byron

The inquest, in 2019, ruled that Owen had made the staff aware of his allergies but the information was not passed on to the kitchen.

Assistant coroner Briony Ballard added: “The menu was reassuring in that it made no reference to any marinade or potential allergenic ingredient in the food selected.”

The inquest also heard that Owen’s Epipen, which he had forgotten to take on the trip, would not have saved him because the reaction was so violent.

The family received a letter from Byron's chief executive apologising for "all the pain" they had suffered but Paul says they have not awarded damages or specific compensation.

"Byron's insurers refused to pay any damages and only offered to pay a proportion of the legal and funeral costs," Pauls says.

“We're not asking for money for ourselves but we asked them to donate money to the charity the Anaphylaxis Campaign and we got nothing.”

Owen’s family have been supported by the parents of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, who died after eating a Pret A Manger baguette containing sesame seeds, and whose death led to a law requiring allergen information on takeaway food.

Now Owen’s family are calling for new legislation to cover restaurant menus and their petition for Owen’s Law has now been launched on the government website.

“At the moment restaurants are only required to have a sign saying, ‘If you have allergies, please tell the waiter’, says Paul. “But that’s what Owen did and the system fell down for him.

“There are 14 allergens recognised in EU law, and we want all restaurants to be compelled to stick them on the menu, using standardised symbols or numbers with a key, just as many menus already use V for vegetarian.

“They take a lot of room describing the succulent burger, or the tasty salad, so why not list allergens as well?

“We also want it to be mandatory that the waiter initiate a discussion with the customers about allergens.”

“It's not difficult, it's not rocket science and it will save lives.”

Emma is also calling for ordering apps to take allergies more seriously.

“Since COVID, there's a lot less waiter contact and you often have to scan a QR code and order from your phone,” says Emma.

“Why isn't the question about allergies the first thing that pops up on the screen?

“If it’s a yes, the server should have to come to you and discuss the allergies.”

Before Owen died, Paul asked each of the family to choose a deciduous English tree to plant at his Cornwall home and Owen initially wanted a palm tree, before being persuaded to choose an oak.

“When he died, I bought a palm tree that was on his coffin through the funeral then I planted it at home with some of his ashes below.

“On his birthday, we pour his favourite drink – cider – over the palm tree and everyone has a bit of cider and wishes him a happy birthday.

“I think he would laugh to think that instead of having a palm tree, he's growing into a palm tree.”

Emma says her brother’s death has left a huge void in their lives.

“The main thing is the silence, because Owen came with a lot of noise,” she says.

“He was very musical, always strumming a guitar or the ukulele or playing music. Now when we go to Mum's house, it's silent and it makes me catch my breath every single time."

Pauls adds: “I've got lots of photos of him and one in particular is the cleanest framed photo in the house.

“I'm always wiping it and talking to him, because it's the only contact I have. We miss Owen every day and we just want allergies to be taken seriously, so another family doesn’t suffer the way we have.”

For more information go to owens-law.co.uk.

To sign the petition go to the Petition Parliament website.

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