Tuner may sue Monaco hotel for damage caused by valet's injury

Sat, 31 May 2014

It's relatively common to hear about unethical valets taking a joyride and wrecking high-performance cars. However, a recent 'accident' in Monaco might be one of the weirdest cases ever. Of course, now the lawyers may get involved.

Andreas Belzek, owner of tuning firm Prior Design, was driving his highly modified, black with gold pinstripes, widebody Audi R8 (pictured above) to the Hotel de Paris in the famously rich city on the shores of the Mediterranean. Upon arriving, he was going to check in but wanted to park the supercar himself, which was against the hotel's rules. He protested to the valet but eventually gave in and handed over the keys. Then the problems began.

The Audi barely moved before the valet herniated a disk in his back and couldn't leave the car. The police and paramedics arrived to the scene, which had to be quite a crowd in a city as tiny as Monaco. To get the guy out, the rescue crew had to hook him to a special hoist and carry him out, according to Germany's Focus Online. Belzek claims the efforts to save the man caused roughly 10,000 euros ($13,622) in damage to the car's carbon fiber, Alcantara and Nappa leather interior.

Belzek was furious about the damage and was likely even more angry when he learned that the hotel wouldn't be paying him. It claims that the rescue workers caused the damage and denied responsibility. Prior Design posted the following message about the accident on its Facebook page:

"Yes it's all truth. We would like to see some kind of response from the hotel regarding this accident, but unfortunately it didn't happen. Anyway, we don't blame a Valet at all, hopefully he's getting better now & we wish him very well. Prior-Design SuperCars ?#Monaco? Tour 2014"

According to Focus, Belzek is considering contacting his lawyer to work on the case. Let us know in Comments who you think should have to pay for the damage, if anyone.

By Chris Bruce