The House of Lords has ruled that the duty imposed on a highway authority by section 41(1) of the Highways Act 1980 “to maintain the highway” does not require the authority to keep a highway free from ice and snow by gritting operations or otherwise. The word “maintain” was restrictively construed, not for semantic reasons, but for policy reasons underlying earlier highway statutes and the common law rules adopted therein.
The decision does not rule out the possibility of a negligence claim arising out de-icing operations, which should perhaps be borne in mind before an authority pass any updates to a local radio station.
The judgment of Lord Hoffmann contains a valuable review of this branch of highway law: see Goodes v East Sussex County Council [2000] EGCS 75.
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The House of Lords has ruled that the duty imposed on a highway authority by section 41(1) of the Highways Act 1980 “to maintain the highway” does not require the authority to keep a highway free from ice and snow by gritting operations or otherwise. The word “maintain” was restrictively construed, not for semantic reasons, but for policy reasons underlying earlier highway statutes and the common law rules adopted therein.
The decision does not rule out the possibility of a negligence claim arising out de-icing operations, which should perhaps be borne in mind before an authority pass any updates to a local radio station.
The judgment of Lord Hoffmann contains a valuable review of this branch of highway law: see Goodes v East Sussex County Council [2000] EGCS 75.
