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Was Bus Company Negligent !

25th November 1949
Page 56
Page 56, 25th November 1949 — Was Bus Company Negligent !
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JUDGMENT was reserved after a hearing lasting 6 days in the House of Lords, last week, in an appeal arising out of an accident in 1943 involving a double-decker belonging to the South Wale's Transport Co., Ltd.

As a result of the accident, which followed a burst in the off-side front tyre, four of the 53 passengers were killed. Holding that the company had

been negligent in failing to take reasonable care to maintain the tyr,es, Mr. Justice Sellers, at Glamorgan Assizes. awarded Mrs. .Eunice Irene Barkwar widow of one of the victims, damages amounting to £2,025. His finding was overruled by a majority decision of the Court of Appeal. Mrs. Barkway next appealed to the House of Lords.

Mr. Richard O'Sullivan, KC., for Mrs. Barkway, said that the appeal raised the question of the measure of protection afforded by law to passengers travelling in a public service vehicle.

The appellant's case was that the burst was because of an existing impact fracture of the tyre which caused the plies of the outer cover to disintegrate. As a result, the bus swerved and ran down an embankment at Pwll, near Llanelly. The accident occurred during the black-out on February 27, 1943. He alleged that the bus was driven at an excessive speed.

Mr. N. R. Fox-Andrews, K.C., for the company, 'submitted that the evidence showed that the cause of the bus's leaving the road was the burst which, in turn, was the result of an existing impact fracture. That fact removed any presumption of negligence against the driver. It had never been doubted that the evidence showed that the tyre was defective, but the company had taken all reasonable steps to see that the bus was properly maintained.

There was no evidence that the tyre was affected by the speed at which the bus was driven and the deterioration which occurred following the impact fracture must have been a long process. It could not have occurred during the time that the bus was driven from the depot on the morning of the accident.


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