Temporary Repair : No Damages
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ACLAIM for damages against a motor engineering company by the owners of a Leyland 6-tonner was dismissed by Mr. Justice Streatfeild in the Queen's Bench Division last week. E. J. Maynard and Sons, Ltd., London Road, Crawley Down, Sussex, sued Sargents of East Grinstead (Engineers), Ltd., alleging that they were negligent and in breach of duty when repairing the hydraulic braking system of the lorry.
This was denied, the defendants contending that the repair was only temporary.
Five days before the lorry ran into the back of another vehicle and was damaged, the driver took it to the defendants' garage, where the braking system was repaired in "a very crude way."
Instead of a section of pipe being cut out and another put in, a length of rubber tubing Was affixed with hose clips. The plaintiffs said that the brakes failed because the rubber slipped off the copper tubing. They contended that the lorry was taken to the garage for " expert repairs of a reasonably permanent nature."
Defendants said that the repairs were never intended to be permanent, and that the driver stated that he wanted the brakes to he only patched up so that he could get the lorry home.
" The repairs," said the judge,." cost only 12s. 8d., and that is pretty eloquent that it was only a temporary job." He was satisfied that the driver required only a temporary repair, which was what the defendants contracted to do.
Judgment for the defendants was given with costs.