Glyn Thompson reflects on the Supreme Court’s assessment of what constitutes use & the possible impact of EU principles post Brexit
- The Supreme Court had the first chance in generation to review the question of use and provide clarity on what constituted use.
Section 145 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 makes a person liable for an accident which was ‘caused by or arose from the use of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place’. For years, UK courts have wrestled with what constitutes ‘use’ within that definition. The judgment which has most concerned insurers over the last two decades came in the Court of Appeal case of Dunthorne v Bentley [1999] Lloyd’s Rep 560, [1994] Lexis Citation 1708 when it was held that parking a car at the side of the road after having run out of petrol and crossing the road to seek help from a colleague was ‘use’ when an accident arose as a result. With that as a benchmark, what else is ‘use’?
The definition debate
The
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