The plaintiff fireman was injured assisting at an incident when using taking and unsecured jack to an incident.
Held: His appeal failed.
Denning LJ said: ‘It is well settled that in measuring due care one must balance the risk against the measures necessary to eliminate the risk. To that proposition there ought to be added this. One must balance the risk against the end to be achieved. If this accident had occurred in a commercial enterprise without any emergency there could be no doubt that the servant would succeed. But the commercial end to make profit is very different from the human end to save life or limb. The saving of life or limb justifies taking considerable risk, and I am glad to say there have never been wanting in this country men of courage ready to take those risks, notably in the Fire Service.
In this case the risk involved in sending out the lorry was not so great as to prohibit the attempt to save life. I quite agree that fire engines, ambulances and doctors’ cars should not shoot past the traffic lights when they show a red light. That is because the risk is too great to warrant the incurring of the danger. It is always a question of balancing the risk against the end.!
Judges:
Singleton, Denning, Morris LJJ
Citations:
[1954] EWCA Civ 6, [1954] 2 All ER 368, [1954] 1 WLR 835
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Negligence
Updated: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.262846
