Considering the liability of emergency vehicles is a difficult balancing act for the courts, says Karen O’Sullivan
The Court of Appeal recently considered the issue of liability of emergency vehicles in the case of MacLeod v Commissioner for Metropolitan Police [2015] EWCA Civ 688, [2015] All ER (D) 98 (Jul). Although that case is not the most helpful, being an appeal against findings of facts (hence the appeal was, perhaps not surprisingly, dismissed), it does give us cause to remind ourselves of the law relating to emergency vehicles.
In considering liability, the courts have to perform a difficult balancing act. On one hand, those injured in collisions with emergency services should not be denied compensation, simply because the other vehicle was on an emergency call. On the other hand, if the courts are too liberal with the emergency services’ money, not only will the taxpayer have to foot the bill, but the drivers of such vehicles will be inhibited in their attempts to reach the scene of an emergency promptly.
Duty of care
The first guiding principle, which is emphasised in many of these cases, is
