Duty of care interfering with life

Cole v Davis-Gilbert and others CA TLR 6 April

The claimant had fallen into a hole left on the green by a maypole which had been erected at the fete organised by the Royal British Legion 20 months before her accident. She had suffered a serious fracture of her leg. There was no evidential basis on which to hold the Royal British Legion, the fifth defendant, liable. One of the legion’s members had filled in the hole shortly after the fete and it appeared that the accident had been caused by the removal of the filling by a person unknown. If the court were to set a higher standard of care than what was reasonable, fear of the consequences might mean that there would be no fetes, no maypole dancing and no similar activities on English village greens.