Stephen Lightfoot (A Protected Party, by his litigation friend Colin Lightfoot) v Go-Ahead Group Plc
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Mr Justice McCombe |
| Judgment Date | 01 February 2011 |
| Neutral Citation | [2011] EWHC 89 (QB) |
| Docket Number | Case No: 9NE10813 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division |
| Date | 01 February 2011 |
[2011] EWHC 89 (QB)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
NEWCASTLE DISTRICT REGISTRY
The Law Courts
Quayside
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 3LA
The Hon. Mr. Justice McCombe
Case No: 9NE10813
Paul Rose QC (instructed by Irwin Mitchell LLP) for the Claimant
Susan Rodway QC (instructed by Crutes LLP) for the Defendant
Hearing dates: 12, 13 and 17 January 2011
(A) Introduction
This is an action for damages in respect of very serious personal injuries sustained by the Claimant in a road traffic accident which occurred on Low Moor Road, Langley Park, Co. Durham at about 1821 hours on 18 November 2008. The Claimant contends that the accident and his injuries were caused by the negligent driving of a bus (a Single Decker Dennis vehicle, registration number S783 RNE), driven by Mr Derek Edward Kent ("Mr Kent") in the course of his employment by the defendant.
Mr Kent had been working in that employment for about 20 months at the date of the accident. He was 56 years old at the time and had held a full driving licence since 1972; he qualified as an LGV driver and passed the advanced driving test in 1983. He obtained his PSV licence when he began to work for the Defendant.
The Claimant was born on 16 September 1956 and was, therefore, 52 years old at the date of the accident. He was divorced from his wife, Mrs Sarah Lightfoot, and lived primarily with his mother in Lanchester, Co. Durham (slightly to the north-west of Langley Park), but had a woman friend who lived in Esh village (to the south-west of the accident scene), which was to have been on Mr Kent's later bus route, after Langley Park and before Esh Winning. At the time of the accident the Claimant was wearing a grey hooded parka-style coat, blue jeans and white trainers.
Until the conclusion of the factual evidence at trial, liability was denied by the Defendant. At that stage an admission of primary liability was made on a limited basis. I shall return to the admission made later. However, while primary liability is now admitted, it is contended by the Defendant that the accident and the claimant's injuries were caused or contributed to by the Claimant's own negligence.
By an order of District Judge Goudie made on 24 June 2010 it was ordered that there be a "split trial" of the issues of liability and causation. It is agreed that the issues of contributory negligence, raised on the pleadings, are comprised in that direction. The trial on the issues of liability, causation and contributory negligence has been heard by me accordingly on the dates indicated on the cover sheet of this judgment. At that trial the Claimant has been represented by Mr Paul Rose QC and the Defendant by Miss Susan Rodway QC.
Between 24 and 27 August 2009, Mr Kent stood trial in the Crown Court at Durham, before His Honour Judge Forster QC and a jury, on a charge of dangerous driving. He was acquitted on that charge but was convicted of careless driving. He was fined £800 and his licence was endorsed with 8 penalty points; he was ordered to pay £1,150 costs. He was also dismissed from his employment with the Defendant on the grounds of gross misconduct because of the accident.
(B) The accident and the basis primary liability
The accident was filmed on CCTV cameras fitted on the bus. The relevant shots were captured by the forward looking camera and another camera focussed on the driver and his cab.
The bus was travelling on a scheduled service between Newcastle and the village of Esh Winning. The journey was timetabled to start in Newcastle at 1704 hours and to end in Esh Winning at 1830 hours. The bus had left a scheduled stop at Stringer Terrace, at the western end of Langley Park, at about 1821:22 and the collision is captured on the bus camera and timed on that camera at 1821:40, that is 18 + seconds after departure from the stop. The bus was travelling in a westerly direction and the impact was about 85 metres to the west of the entrance to Langley Park cemetery.
The location of the accident is best shown on an aerial photograph, annotated by Dr Andrew Ninham, the Accident Reconstruction expert, called on behalf of the Claimant (2/50/367 in the trial bundles) and by reference to an Ordinance Survey map called "plan B" at the trial. Copies of these are annexed to this judgment. There is also a useful site plan dawn up by the investigating police officer, a copy of which is at 1/27d/136. The bus was travelling from right to left on all these visual aids.
At the time of the accident it was dark and the road was unlit. The relevant stretch of road, looking ahead from the bus stop (at Stringer Terrace) immediately before the accident, was straight for about 500 metres; there was no on-coming traffic. There is a pedestrian footpath on the north side of the carriageway, but no footpath to the south. The weather was fine and the road was dry. The speed limit for buses was 50 mph; the evidence shows that prior to braking, just before impact, the bus was travelling at 23 to 25 mph. It was being driven on dipped headlights. It is contended for the Claimant that it was negligent of Mr Kent not to have engaged main beam headlights.
There is a considerable body of evidence from witnesses who saw a man of the Claimant's description in the Langley Park area between about 1630 hours and 1805 hours. I think it is probable that all of these sightings (with one possible exception) were of the Claimant.
At about 1645 hours. Ms Beverley Moralee was driving in a westerly direction along Low Moor Road and was about to turn right to approach her home at Blackburn Farm when she saw a figure in a dark coloured longish coat ahead of her by about 200 yards on the footpath. The figure seemed to stagger into the middle of the carriageway. She was sufficiently concerned for the person's safety to report the matter to the police when she arrived home. (Another witness Ms Joan Churnside also spoke of seeing a figure on that footpath in about the same spot as that reported by Ms Moralee, although she put the sighting at about 1720/1725 hours, which is rather difficult to reconcile with other sightings of the Claimant.)
The Claimant was seen and recognised in the Spar grocery shop at Langley Park (marked on plan B) by a sales assistant, Ms June Simpson, but the timing of this incident is unclear, although it seems that it must have been before 17.30 as Ms Simpson finished work at that time. Ms Simpson formed the opinion that the Claimant was drunk; he was unsteady on his feet and was slurring his words. He purchased a quarter bottle of vodka. He had asked for information as to the time of a bus to Esh Winning.
The Claimant's mother, Mrs Rosaline Lightfoot says, in a statement read to the court, that in a telephone call at about 1800 hours her son had told her that he did not know exactly where he was and that he sounded anxious; she advised him to get on the next bus that he saw. Another witness, Ms Amanda Herworth, was standing near the Spar shop and saw a man (who was unknown to her) come out of the shop with a vodka bottle in his hand. He staggered into the path of a car which swerved to avoid him. The man was refused entry to the Langley Park public house (also marked on Plan B), outside which Ms Herworth was standing; he then consumed the vodka and left the bottle on the ground. This must have been the Claimant.
Another bus driver, Ms Beverley Sivyer, saw a man wearing clothing of the type worn by the Claimant that day, walking diagonally across the eastbound carriage way of Low Moor Road towards the footpath on the north side of the road. This was very shortly after she had turned her bus in the turning circle at Langley Park cemetery, just before 1805, to begin an eastbound journey. The man was, to her mind, obviously drunk or under the influence of drugs. She had to stop her bus to avoid him. This was clearly the Claimant who was at that spot after speaking to his mother on the telephone and after purchasing and drinking the vodka bought at the Spar shop.
A police officer who attended the accident scene, PC Michael Hamilton, said that the Claimant smelt strongly of intoxicating liquor.
From this evidence it is clear that the Claimant was very drunk at the time of the accident. It seems to me to be unnecessary to determine more precisely what the Claimant's movements about the Langley Park area on that evening were.
In her opening written submissions Miss Rodway referred to the Claimant's medical history and submitted that the history of depression and alcohol abuse, together with a recorded earlier incident of the Claimant walking in the middle of the road in July 2008, suggested that the Claimant may have wanted the bus to run him down or at the very least it showed that he took no care at all for his own safety. While the Defendant called the Claimant's former wife, Ms Sarah Lightfoot, to give evidence of the Claimant's alcohol abuse and other erratic behaviour, the medical records were not examined in any detail and there was no formal expert medical evidence of the Claimant's mental state. Miss Rodway accepted that she could not pursue her initial submissions in this respect. There is no reliable evidence that the Claimant was looking to harm himself.
Turning back to the accident, the forward facing bus camera picks up the first signs of the Claimant (his white shoes) at between 1821:37 and 1821:38 when he was on or near the white lines at the centre of the road. The impact is shown on the same camera at 1821:40.4. He is, therefore, on camera for about 2.5 seconds before the collision. However, it is uncontroversial that he would have been visible to the human eye,...
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