An extreme sports enthusiast whose life once revolved around sky-diving and snowboarding is suing a vineyard for more than £200,000 after a tractor accident left him with debilitating injuries. Guy Hollingworth, 53, sustained life-altering trauma while working at Rathfinny Wine Estate near Alfriston, East Sussex, in September 2022.Mr Hollingworth was assisting with netting vines when he fell from a pallet positioned on the back forks of a tractor. The pallet gave way, catapulting him to the ground where he struck his head and back on a metal part of the vineyard apparatus. Once described as "physically adventurous" and a volunteer for a group rescuing entangled sealife, he now faces severe limitations.He is unable to walk further than 50 metres and struggles to use his left hand for everyday tasks like holding a knife and fork.In addition to his physical ailments, Mr Hollingworth is also contending with PTSD and a chronic pain disorder. He is pursuing legal action against his former employers, Rathfinny Wine Estate Ltd, at the High Court. Rathfinny Wine Estate in the South Downs (Supplied by Champion News)The company, however, is vigorously defending the claim, asserting that Mr Hollingworth was culpable for his own accident, alleging he set the tractor forks too low and failed to hold on properly.Rathfinny is a family-run vineyard, which was established in 2010 by former hedge fund manager Mark Driver and wife Sarah.It is dedicated to producing English sparkling wines from its site near the picturesque village of Alfriston, in the South Downs.Its 2018 Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine won a gold medal at the International Wine Challenge 2023 and its products are now served in restaurants and hotels all over the world.According to documents filed at the High Court, Mr Hollingworth, of Seaford, East Sussex, was working with a colleague netting the vines at the estate when he was hurt.After reaching the bottom of a hill, his colleague began to accelerate the tractor back towards his waiting car, with Mr Hollingworth standing on the unsecured pallet on the forks, he claims.His barrister, Laura Begley, says he then found himself on the ground and in pain, with his colleague standing above and apologising.Mr Hollingworth has only a “patchy” memory of the next two weeks and now suffers with a consequent neurological disorder, says the barrister in his particulars of claim.He has left-sided weakness, with sensory changes to his shoulder, back and limb, leaving his left hand “not useful for holding a knife and fork.”He is unable to walk further than 50m, but with frequent stops, needs a cane and was all but housebound until he obtained a motor scooter to get out.He is also unable to lift his right arm above his shoulder, suffers frequent falls and experiences headaches, tinnitus and blurry vision, as well as PTSD and depression.Guy Hollingworth was an adrenaline junkie who took part in extreme sports (Supplied by Champion News)“Prior to the index accident, the claimant was very much an outdoors person,” Ms Begley adds.“He grew up in the valley where he worked and enjoyed his work and walking locally and on the South Downs.“He was a scuba diver and volunteered with a local organisation helping to rescue entangled marine life.“He snowboarded and had done a tandem sky dive, and had bought the equipment to learn to do this on his own account.“He was physically adventurous.”Mr Hollingworth is suing the vineyard, alleging negligence in not ensuring that the pallet was secured and also accusing the driver, Ian Bray, of driving too fast for the terrain.But although the company has admitted primary liability for the accident, it is fighting the claim on the basis that Mr Hollingworth was himself negligent.He had not been instructed to carry out his task in the manner he did, says the company's barrister Lee Evans, and had “chosen” to stand on the pallet.“At no stage prior to the pleaded accident did the claimant express any concerns about the task or him standing on the pallet,” he says in the company's defence.“It is denied that Mr Bray drove the tractor at an unsafe and/or unsuitable speed. At all material times, Mr Bray was driving the tractor at a safe and suitable speed. “At the time the claimant fell from the pallet, Mr Bray was safely reducing the speed of the tractor, as he was approaching the end of the row of vines.“The likely cause of the claimant falling from the pallet was that it was set at a low level and the pallet made contact with the ground. “There were external controls on the tractor that the claimant used to raise the height of the rear forks and, therefore, the height of the pallet.“The claimant used those controls to raise the height of the rear forks and the pallet. At the time of the index accident, the claimant had set the height of the forks and, therefore, the height of the pallet.”He said Mr Hollingworth had failed to use the controls to raise the forks and pallet to a suitable height and had also failed to properly hold on to the tractor.The case has not yet been heard before a judge, but will be listed for a full trial of the claim at a later date, unless the parties settle outside of court.