Highways authorities and contractors face millions of pounds in extra costs following a court ruling that their duties could extend to clearing road-surface obstructions.
Three appeal judges have quashed an April High Court ruling that the authorities responsible for repairing damaged roads are also liable to deal with obstructions such as surface water.
The ruling, which will have widespread implications for highways authorities, means that maintaining agents Mott MacDonald, Amey Mouchel and Cornwall Council may have to pay up to £1.6m in damages for three car accidents caused by flooded roads.
The Department for Transport settled claims that had arisen out of the separate accidents, which had occurred after rainwater collected on the A3 and A34 owing to blocked or inadequate drains, and sought to recoup its costs from the agents.
However, the contractors claimed that the authority had been wrong to settle the claims because its duty to repair highways did not extend to ensuring that road surfaces were unobstructed.
Carnwath LJ ruled that the duty to maintain the highway also included the removal of obstructions from the surface.
“The duty is not confined to the ‘surface’ of the road; the surface is simply treated as one important part of what is to be maintained, which is the ‘surface and fabric of the roadway’,” he said.
Secretary of State for Transport, Environment and the Regions v Mott MacDonald Ltd and others Court of Appeal (Sir Andrew Morritt, chancellor, and Carnwath and Moses LJJ) 27 July 2006.
Nigel Wilkinson QC and William Hoskins (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) appeared for the appellant; Geoffrey Brown (instructed by Hextalls LLP) appeared for the first respondent; Edward Faulks QC (instructed by Barlow Lyde & Gilbert) appeared for the second and third respondents.
References: EGi Legal News 27/07/06
