An Admiralty oiler, the ‘Prestol’, was damaged in a collision with the defendants’ vessel in the Baltic. Her place was taken by another oiler, the ‘Belgol’, which was withdrawn from service on the Clyde. In effect, the Admiralty was able to make do with the resources at its disposal, making it unnecessary to charter in a substitute vessel. The Admiralty claimed general damages at the rate of andpound;225 a day in respect of the period during which the ‘Prestol’ was out of service while undergoing repairs, that being the rate at which she could have been chartered out. The registrar awarded damages at the rate of andpound;200 a day. The House considered the principles to be applied in assessing damages.
Held: The Admiralty was not entitled to recover general damages assessed by reference to the rate at which the vessel could be chartered out and on that point their Lordships were agreed. Viscount Dunedin said: ‘There is no difference in this matter between the position in Admiralty law and that of the common law . .’
Judges:
Viscount Dunedin
Citations:
[1926] AC 655
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Lagden v O’Connor HL 4-Dec-2003
The parties had been involved in a road traffic accident. The defendant drove into the claimant’s parked car. The claimant was unable to afford to hire a car pending repairs being completed, and arranged to hire a car on credit. He now sought . .
Cited – West Midlands Travel Ltd v Aviva Insurance UK Ltd CA 18-Jul-2013
The claimant bus operator sought damages after one of its buses was off the road for several weeks. It made a claim for general damages for loss of use, using for that purpose a formula produced by the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK, which, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Damages, Transport
Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.188654
