The defendant, after a car crash, joined in the police as third party defendants, saying that they had contributed to a car accident by failing to do anything about traffic lights which they knew were out of order.
Held: The action against the police failed. Although the police had received information, they had not in any sense taken control of the relevant hazard. There was no sufficient relationship between the police and the claimant to give rise to a common law duty of care.
Judges:
Kennedy J
Citations:
[1990] 1 All ER 431
Cited by:
Cited – Hertfordshire Police v Van Colle; Smith v Chief Constable of Sussex Police HL 30-Jul-2008
Police Obligations to Witnesses is Limited
A prosecution witness was murdered by the accused shortly before his trial. The parents of the deceased alleged that the failure of the police to protect their son was a breach of article 2.
Held: The House was asked ‘If the police are alerted . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Negligence, Police
Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.276397