Matthew Chance, a British CNN war correspondent who has survived bomb attacks in Beirut, grenades in Ukraine and detention at gunpoint in Libya, is now suing for £1.6 million after being injured in a fall at London’s Borough Market.
The 56-year-old journalist has spent much of his career working in some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones.
Yet it was at the busy central London market, where he was seemingly out of harm’s way, that he slipped on spilled food waste and broke his ankle in December 2022.
Mr Chance, who earns £425,000 a year, was heading to book a table at the market’s ‘Roast’ restaurant when he lost his footing on what was described as ‘greasy and oily’ waste beside a food stall.
He fell heavily and suffered a ‘Bosworth fracture’, a serious injury in which ligaments are torn away from the bone.
The injury has left him with continuing pain and, he says, forced him to relocate permanently to the UK from his base in Moscow.
He claims the move has reduced his take-home pay because income tax is higher in Britain than in Russia.
His lawyers told the court that, had he remained in Moscow, ‘his net pay would have been considerably higher than it is now.’
CNN chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance, who earns £425,000 a year, has covered some of the world’s deadliest conflicts but suffered a broken ankle after slipping at London’s Borough Market
Mr Chance is seeking £1.6 million from the Borough Market Trustees, arguing that the accident forced him to move to the UK, where the tax burden is greater than in Russia
Mr Chance has now brought a £1.6 million claim against the Borough Market Trustees at London’s High Court, seeking damages for his injuries and lost past and future earnings.
The trustees have accepted liability for the accident but are challenging the amount of compensation he is seeking.
The veteran correspondent has endured numerous near-death experiences during his career.
He escaped Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon and once discovered that he was crouching beside a live grenade while reporting from war-torn Ukraine.
He interviewed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a Kyiv bunker as Russian bombs fell nearby. In 2011, during the final days of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s rule, Mr Chance was held at gunpoint by the Libyan leader’s forces inside a hotel.
But court documents describe how the award-winning journalist was seriously injured at the popular tourist destination in the heart of London.
According to the documents, Mr Chance visited Borough Market on the afternoon of December 19, 2022, when the accident occurred.
‘At approximately 4pm, he was approaching the entrance to ‘Roast’ restaurant, as he intended to make a booking, and was walking in front of a food stand when he slipped up on an oily and greasy substance on the floor, lost his footing and fell,’ his lawyers said.
His right leg twisted as he fell, leaving him with a fractured ankle.
He was taken to hospital, where doctors realigned the fibula before carrying out further surgery to repair the damaged ligament and reconstruct the joint.
Mr Chance fell outside the ‘Roast’ restaurant at Borough Market on December 19, 2022
The accident caused a severe ankle injury known as a ‘Bosworth fracture’, in which ligaments are torn away from the bone
Barrister James Byrne told the court this week that the fall had ‘knocked him sideways’ and significantly affected his ability to earn.
‘We say that the injury has caused a substantial loss to him,’ he added.
Mr Chance was nevertheless promoted to CNN’s chief global affairs correspondent after the accident.
His legal team argues, however, that he has still suffered financially because his injury forced him to return to the UK, where he faces a higher tax burden than he would have in Russia.
‘Had he not suffered the accident, he would not have relocated to the UK and would have received the increased salary following the promotion, subject only to the deduction of Russian income tax at the relevant rates,’ his lawyers said.
‘To reiterate, the claim is that the injury necessitated a move to London that he would not have otherwise made and that in being forced to move to London he has been left without the actual remunerative benefit of his promotion.
‘Had he stayed in Moscow once promoted, his net pay would have been considerably higher than it is now.’
James Hogg, representing the Market Trustees, said the organisation accepted responsibility for the accident but required Mr Chance to establish ‘the incidence, causation, nature and extent of the pain, injury, loss and damage alleged.’
Mr Hogg also said the journalist’s ‘credibility is in issue’. He noted that Mr Chance had told doctors in 2024 that he had returned to sedentary work and had not gone back to Ukraine since the accident, despite reporting from Gostomel and Kyiv in 2023.
‘Whereas the claimant informed Dr Stallard in November 2024 that he had not returned to reporting in the same combat or front-line situations that he had previously done, the defendant notes that prior to that date the claimant had reported from Goris, Armenia, in October 2023 and later the same month from Tel Aviv, Israel, when the broadcast was interrupted by explosions, and from the Gaza-Egyptian border in September 2024, when the claimant accompanied the Israel Defence Forces,’ the barrister said.
He also referred to evidence suggesting that, by June 2024, Mr Chance was no longer taking pain medication and had resumed some activities from before the accident, including road cycling and running on a treadmill at 12km/h, which was described as his previous fast running pace.
The case came before the High Court this week for a pre-trial case management hearing. A five-day trial is currently scheduled for early 2028.
Mr Chance joined CNN in 2001 and has reported from the Middle East, Afghanistan, Russia and Chechnya, Ukraine, Europe and the Far East.
During his career, he has interviewed numerous world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
