A test case concerning a local authority’s liability to maintain roads is heading for the House of Lords.
A young mother, who blames Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council for the injuries she suffered in a head-on collision with a bus, has been given permission to challenge a court decision that deprived her of the damages she had previously been awarded.
In a decision just published, and without giving any reasons, three law lords have granted Denise Gorringe of Barkisland, near Halifax, permission to challenge last May’s Appeal Court ruling.
The Appeal Court overturned a county court judge’s ruling that Calderdale Council were liable for the incident because they had failed in their duty as highway authority to erect adequate warning signs and to repaint a “SLOW” marking on the road.
In the Appeal Court decision, Sir Murray Stewart Smith said that the case was “a timely reminder that the courts should be slow to impose liability on the highway authority, which have competing claims on their budget”.
“The courts should not strive to hold the highway authority liable when it is quite clear that the driver was at fault,” he added.
The judge held that although the council’s system of road inspections, record keeping or interdepartmental co-operation “left much to be desired”, they did have a road maintenance programme based on sensible priorities and they were carrying it out.
A date has not yet been fixed for the House of Lords to hear the appeal against that decision.
Gorringe v Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council
References: PLS News 19/5/03
