A police officer who was ruled entirely to blame for a car crash which killed a young mother has had his liability reduced to 40% at the Court of Appeal in London.
The family of Rachel Cheesewright, 29, brought a civil negligence action against Kent Police over the fatal accident involving Ms Cheesewright`s Ford Fiesta and a marked police car which was responding to a 999 call on a country road.
The 'clearly excessive' speed of the police car - 93mph - and the fact that its siren was not sounding were held by the three appeal judges to be contributory causes of the accident.
However, the judges said that Ms Cheesewright was 60% to blame as she had turned from a lane onto a major road without keeping a lookout towards her right.
Kent Police were appealing against an earlier Canterbury County Court ruling that the driver of the police car, Pc William Purse, was '100% at fault'.
The accident happened late at night on October 22, 2005 when Miss Cheesewright emerged from Brissenden Green Lane, Bethersden, on to the A28 Ashford road.
Appeal judge Lord Justice Stanley said that Pc Purse had been entitled to assume that Ms Cheesewright would not emerge from the lane without keeping a proper lookout to the right.
Copyright © Press Association 2009
Tim Beasley, Personal Injury Partner with Levenes Solicitors Birmingham Office writes:-
This is quite an interesting case. The original trial judge found the police entirely to blame for driving at 93mph and not sounding a siren, but on the other hand, if you are intending to pull out of a side road on to a major road you must keep a proper look out. No doubt the original trial judge had some sympathy with the family of the unfortunate driver who died, but clearly the police believed that the original result was harsh as far as their driver was concerned. The Court of Appeal decision that the police were 40% to blame is not a precedent. Any case like this is decided on its merits.
