A dancer from Oakhill who was badly injured after being crushed by a mechanical tree while filming an advert is seeking damages from the production company in excess of £300,000.

Keira Johnson, a performance artist who has worked for the Royal Opera House, was injured when a tree perched on a mechanical stump collapsed while she was filming a commercial in Poland last September.

According to court records, the Bath Dance College graduate was filming a two-minute advertisement depicting her and another actor sprinting through a forest when the disaster occurred.

Using trees mounted on a mechanical pivot or hinge and programmed to collapse at the appropriate moment, special effects technicians created the illusion of actors crashing through the woods.

The attorneys representing Ms. Johnson claim that she suffered serious back injuries after a mechanical tree fell prematurely and landed on her.

The London-based advertising agency that employed her, DDB UK Limited operating as Adam and Eve DDB concede that she sustained severe injuries on site, but rejects responsibility for compensating her.

In response to the lawsuit that she filed against the company, DDB's attorneys assert that while the company hired her as "talent" for the film, it was not her employer and had nothing to do with setting up the shoot or creating, constructing, or operating the mechanical trees.

Neither the nature of Ms. Johnson's injuries nor the product that her film was intended to advertise were specified in the court documents.

Only one defendant--DDB UK Limited--is involved in the lawsuit, and not production company DDB UK Limited.