Acts
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A person who was ignorant of the fact that there was no policy of insurance covering a vehicle may be guilty of an offence if he permits the use of the vehicles while uninsured. Citations: [1948] 2 All ER 1062 Statutes: Road Traffic Act 1930 35(1) Jurisdiction: England and Wales Cited by: Cited – Philip … Continue reading Lyons v May: 1948
The case asked whether vehicular user of a public footpath in breach of section 34(1) of the 1988 Act could lead to the acquisition by prescription of a public right of way. Held: Hanning barred a claim to the easement under section 2 of the 1832 Act. The user relied on had been illegal since … Continue reading Hayling v Harper and Another: CA 2 Apr 2003
The defendant complained that a jury had not been asked a question of fact, namely whether his name and address could not be discovered withut due diligence. The section had a proviso that failure to comply with the section was not a bar to conviction if the court was satisfied inter alia that the accused’s … Continue reading Rex v Bolkis: CCA 1932
A driver of a vehicle who had been involved in an accident, remained under a duty to report the accident and to provide his particulars whether or not he had been requested to do so: ‘It would be a remarkable state of affairs if . . The obligations should only arise in cases where there … Continue reading Peek v Towler: 1945
The defendant had been acquitted of careless driving after the magistrates held that he was ‘exercising oll the skill and attention to be expected from a peson with his short experience’ Held: The justices were in error. The basic standard expected of a new driver was the same as that expected of any driver with … Continue reading McCrone v Riding: 1938
The defendant had been given a conditional discharge, which had the effect under section 12(2) of avoiding disqualification. The prosecutor appealed by case stated. Held: The conditional discharge was set aside. The Divisional Court had said more than once that conditional discharge provisions should not be used in order to avoid disqualification in cases where, … Continue reading Dennis v Tame: QBD 1954
The statutory requirement for compulsory insurance in the Road Traffic Act 1930 was of little value if it was open to insurers to freely exclude liability for common risks. Judges: Goddard LJ Citations: [1942] 2 KB 53 Statutes: Road Traffic Act 1934 Cited by: Cited – Bristol Alliance Ltd v Williams and Another QBD 1-Jul-2011 … Continue reading Zurich General Accident and Liability Insurance Co Ltd v Morrison: 1942
Section 22 of the 1930 Act obliged a driver in certain circumstances to report an accident causing damage to another vehicle, person or animal. The defendant failed to do so because he was unaware that he had been involved in an accident. He claimed that he could not be guilty of the offence because he … Continue reading Harding v Price: KBD 1948
Where an employer is found vicariously liable for an employee’s actions, they are entitled to recover an indemnity from them, to cover such losses. Held: An accident which occurred in the yard of a slaughterhouse did not arise out of use on the road. Romer LJ opined that to hold that the accident arose out … Continue reading Lister v Romford Ice and Cold Storage Co Ltd: CA 1956
The driver had crashed into the insured’s building causing substantial damage. The court was asked which of the driver’s and building’s insurers should bear the costs. The driver’s insurers said that he had acted deliberately and therefore they were not liable. Though they might even so be liable through the Motor Insurers Bureau, the provisions … Continue reading Bristol Alliance Ltd v Williams and Another: QBD 1 Jul 2011
A bus driver failed to stop and provide information pursuant to section 22 of the Road Traffic Act 1930. A passenger had stepped off the back of the bus in Oxford High Street whilst the bus was moving and the passenger was injured. The driver was not aware at the time that the accident had … Continue reading Quelch v Phipps: QBD 10 Jan 1955
Second Prosecution on Same Facts was An Abuse The defendant appealed his conviction of causing death by dangerous driving. He appealed from the refusal of the judge to give a stay the prosecution as an abuse He had been previously prosecuted for a lesser offence on the same facts. Held: The appeal succeeded. On a … Continue reading Wangige, Regina v: CACD 14 Oct 2020
The court took a strict view of a vehicle owner’s potential liability to injured third parties.
Held: A person who suffered injury by reason of a breach of s35 could maintain an action in damages for that breach: ‘The Road Traffic Act, 1930, . .
A bus driver was allegedly involved in an act of careless driving and was sent notice of an intention to prosecute by registered post ten days after the accident. In fact he was on holiday and the letter was returned without ever being delivered. . .
The claimant had sought to bring proceedings against the respondent, but as a mental patient subject to the 1983 Act, had been obliged by the section first to obtain consent. The parties disputed whether the failure was a procedural or substantial failing and whether it made the proceedings a nullity. Held: The claimant’s appeal failed. … Continue reading Seal v Chief Constable of South Wales Police: HL 4 Jul 2007
The defendant appealed by case stated against conviction under section 172 of failing to provide appropriate driver details. The notices had been received at his address, but he had been unaware of them. He was at the time working regularly in the far East for week at a time. Held: The reference to due diligence … Continue reading Whiteside v The Director of Public Prosecutions: Admn 21 Dec 2011
The victim of an unlawful act of a driver off-road sought damages from another driver and his insurers. The insurers refused to pay. Held: There is a balance to be found between the statutory purpose of compulsory motor insurance and the principal that a man should not benefit from his own wrongful act. The victim … Continue reading Churchill Insurance v Charlton: CA 2 Feb 2001
The respondents had been convicted by the magistrates of using a vehicle without insurance. They were fined and disqualified from holding a licence for 12 months. The Crown Court quashed their fines and disqualifications and substituted conditional discharges. The prosecutor appealed by case stated. Held: The conditional discharges were quashed. There was no evidence upon … Continue reading Taylor and another v Saycell: KBD 1950
The forfeiture rule was to be applied in a case involving suicide. An insured may not recover under a policy of insurance in respect of loss intentionally caused by his own criminal or tortious act, however clearly the wording of the policy may suggest otherwise, and his personal representative is in no better position: ‘On … Continue reading Beresford v Royal Insurance Co Ltd: HL 1938
Statutory Duty Not Extended by Common Law The claimant sought damages after a road accident. The driver came over the crest of a hill and hit a bus. The road was not marked with any warning as to the need to slow down. Held: The claim failed. The duty could not be extended to include … Continue reading Gorringe v Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council: HL 1 Apr 2004
Limits to Police Exemption from Liability The claimant, an elderly lady was bowled over and injured when police were chasing a suspect through the streets. As they arrested him they fell over on top of her. She appealed against refusal of her claim in negligence. Held: Her appeal succeeded. It is normally only in a … Continue reading Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police: SC 8 Feb 2018
Save exceptionally, a car park is not a road for the purposes of road traffic legislation on obligatory insurance. It is an unjustified strain on the language. A distinction made between the road ways and the parking bays was artificial and unhelpful. Whether any particular area was a road is a question of fact in … Continue reading Clarke v Kato and Others; Cutter v Eagle Star Insurance Co Ltd: HL 25 Nov 1998
The employee was injured at work, but in a way excluded from the employers insurance cover. He now sought to make the sole company director liable, hoping in term to take action against the director’s insurance brokers for negligence, the director himself now also bankrupt. The pursuer now appealed. Held: The appeal failed, and the … Continue reading Campbell v Gordon: SC 6 Jul 2016
What makes a road a Road? The Court was asked whether a Road was a ‘road’ for the purposes of the 1984 Act’ Held: It has often been said that the public access mentioned in the definition of ‘road’ must be both actual access and legal or lawful access. However, simple reference to a requirement … Continue reading Bowen and Others v Isle of Wight Council: ChD 3 Dec 2021
Whether the car park where the driving took place was a ‘public place’ within the meaning of section 3. Held: The appeal failed.Laws LJ set out the following propositions as accurately summarising the relevant legal principles: a. The burden of proving that a particular location is a ‘public place’ rests on the Crown to prove … Continue reading May v Director of Public Prosecutions: Admn 15 Apr 2005
Mr Harrison was convicted by the Sheriff-substitute of an offence under section 7(4) of the 1930 Act on the ground that, while disqualified from holding a driving licence, he had driven a vehicle on a specific road. The Sheriff-substitute stated a case for appeal to the High Court. The facts admitted or proved included the … Continue reading Harrison v Hill: 1932
There was an allegation of an offence of dangerous driving contrary to section 2 of the 1988 Act. The issue was whether the car park where the driving had taken place, not being a road, was an ‘other public place’. The case turned on the fact that there was ‘no evidence of the general public … Continue reading Spence, Regina v: CACD 23 Mar 1999
Account taken of circumstances wihout ambiguity The respondent gave advice on home income plans. The individual claimants had assigned their initial claims to the scheme, but later sought also to have their mortgages in favour of the respondent set aside. Held: Investors having once assigned their causes of action to the ICS, could not later … Continue reading Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building Society: HL 19 Jun 1997
The first defendant drove a car belonging to his father and insured by his father. The father consented to the driving but under a mistaken belief that his son was licensed. The claimant was injured by the defendant in a road traffic accident. Held: For insurance purposes, the father could validly permit the driving when … Continue reading Philip Owen Lloyd-Wolper v Robert Moore; National Insurance Guarantee Corporation Plc, Charles Moore: CA 22 Jun 2004
Buchanan allowed his brother to use a vehicle without restriction as to the purpose of use; Buchanan did not actually know (although he had reason to think) that the vehicle the subject of the permission was being used for private purposes. The . .
The claimants asserted negligence in the defendant in failing to provide an adequate response to an emergency call, leading, they said to the death of their daughter at the hands of her violent partner. They claimed also under the 1998 Act. The . .
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