Driver Did Not Remove Key: Not Negligent
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A DRIVER who failed to remove the
ignition key of his vehicle during a brief absence was not negligent,, the Court of Appeal decided last Friday. Standard Bentwood Chair Co., Ltd., successfully appealed against the judgment of Judge Clark, at Clerkenwell County Court, for £28 1 Is. with costs in favour of FuIwood House, Ltd.
Both parties had premises in Tyndale Terrace. North London, a cul-de-sac. In September, 1954, an unauthorized employee drove the vehicle into the door of a garage owned by Fulwood House, Ltd. The employee, an 18-yearold warehouseman, acted outside the scope of his authority.
The only persons authorized to drive the vehicle were the driver and a foreman.
The driver had gone to the toilet and left the ignition key in the vehicle. Respondents claimed that this constituted negligence and rendered the appellants liable. This contention was accepted by Judge Clark.
Lord Justice Birkett considered that the event of the warehouseman's doing what he did was not reasonably foreseeable; neither could it be foreseen that such an act would cause damage. In the circumstances the County Court judge was wrong in placing liability upon the appellants.
The Master of the Rolls and Lord Justice Romer agreed.
125 RUSES A YEAR
I N five or six years' time, Birmingham Transport Department will need to buy replacement buses at the rate of 325 a year, and hopes to pay for them out of revenue. By that time, it is expected, the payment of loan charges for previous vehicle purchases will have ceased.
M.H.A.T. LUNCHEON DATE THE annual luncheon of the Mansion
House Association on Transport will be held at the Trocadero Restaurant, Piccadilly, London, W.1, on March 16. Mr. Harold Watkinson, Minister of Transport, will be the principal guest.