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Lancs hauliers lose appeal in £3,000 lorry fire action
Page 48
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• Three Appeal Court judges last week dismissed with costs an appeal brought by Storey Brothers and Co. Ltd.. White Cross Mills, Lancaster, which lost L3,016-worth of fabric in a lorry fire.
Storey appealed against the dismissal by Lord Justice Fenton-Atkinson (then Mr. Justice Fenton Atkinson) at Lancaster Assize on February 19 last year of its claim for /3,016. He had given judgement and costs for William Milner (trading as Fred Milner and Son) haulier, Brewery Lane, Lancaster, and to its sub-contractor W. Hargreaves and Son, The Garage, Newby, Clapham, Yorks, which carried the goods.
Storey contended that the trial judge was wrong in holding that the defendants were not negligent.
An application by Storey for leave to call further evidence was also rejected.
Lord Justice Davies, sitting with Lord Justice Russell and Mr. Justice Orr, said Storey wanted f5,000-worth of goods transported to Liverpool in February 1965. The company had frequently used Milner's services but on this occasion it had no spare vehicle and the job was sub-contracted by Milner to Hargreaves.
The lorry driver did not go straight to Liverpool but went 18 miles off the main route to his home in Lower Bentham where he parked the lorry in the railway station yard. While unattended it caught fire.
The judge said there was no evidence that the lorry was damaged or tampered with before the fire and at the original hearing Storey had suggested that the driver left a lighted cigarette in the cab which caused it.
Hargreaves called an expert who said the fire was most probably caused by a plug behind the radiator becoming damp and short circuiting.
Lord Justice Davies said it might well have been that the new evidence the plaintiff wished to call might have made a difference to the case. But fresh evidence could only be admitted if it was shown that it could not have been brought with reasonable diligence. He thought such evidence had been available and the plaintiff could have applied for an adjournment.
The plaintiff had also contended that if the driver had not deviated from the main road the fire would not have happened. But the judge said in the light of the electrical fault shown by the defendant's evidence the fire would have happened wherever the lorry was at the time.
He entirely agreed with the trial judge that the deviation of the lorry to Lower Bentham had nothing to do with causing the fire.