Legal
When a passenger was injured slipping on petals outside a flower stall at Marylebone station, Chiltern was not liable but the stall holder was
Contractual disagreement?
If a passenger is injured due to the poor working practices of a contractor, a Toc can sometimes be held
liable.Chris Price looks at some practical steps to ensure that any claims can be successfully defended
T
rain operating companies engage the services of sub-contractors to perform vital inspection, maintenance and repair work at stations and car parks. They may also have ‘concessionaire’ arrangements with various traders or engage other transport services for planned and emergency closures of rail links. If a member of the public has an accident and is injured in circumstances that, on the face of it, appear to be the responsibility of a subcontractor, Tocs need to be aware that there could still be a potential liability
upon them and steps can be taken to avoid this. Under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957, the occupier has a duty to take care that a visitor would be reasonably safe in using the premises. The ‘occupier’ need not be the person in actual occupation, nor do they need to have entire control of the premises. There may be two or more occupiers and the overall occupier can still carry liability for the acts and omissions of its subcontractors. Under the act, the occupier may have a defence ‘where damage is caused to
a visitor by a danger due to the faulty execution of any work or construction, maintenance or repair by an independent contractor employed by the occupier’. The occupier can, therefore, avoid liability if, in all the circumstances, it acted reasonably in entrusting the work to an independent contractor and had taken reasonable steps to satisfy itself that the contractor was competent and that the work had been properly done. This was demonstrated in the case of Piccolo v Lark Stock (trading as Chiltern Flowers) and Chiltern Railway Company and Others.
DECEMBER 2012 PAGE 25
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76