Scarsbrook v Mason [1961]

FACTS:-

The First and Second Claimants were standing on the footway by the side of the road at Five Bells Corner, Vange Essex. The Second Claimant was holding her infant daughter, the third Claimant. A motor car came round a left hand bend on the opposite side of the road, travelling so fast that the driver lost control. It careered to its offside, knocked down the Claimants and went into a field behind the footway where it overturned.  The Claimants sustained injuries.

The Defendant was a passenger in the motor car, which had been taken and driven away by someone without the owner’s consent, on the invitation of the occupants, of whom there were several. The Defendant was not driving, and he did not know who the driver was, but was travelling in the motor car for the purposes of a pleasure trip to Southend and had paid a contribution towards the cost of the petrol.

The Claimants brought an action for damages for negligence against the Defendant. The action was heard in the Queen’s Bench Division before Justice Glyn- Jones.

HELD:-

The real issue in this case was the status of the Defendant in the motor car. Was he a mere guest of someone who retained control or was he, as suggested by the Counsel for the Claimants, an equal member of a group who were jointly using the motor car for the purposes of taking hem all to Southend?

Justice Glyn- Jones held that the members of the party in the motor car were jointly and severally liable for the manner in which the motor car was driven, namely it was driven negligently, and the Claimant is entitled to succeed against this member of the party on the ground that the driver was acting as agent for each and all members of that party.

It was irrelevant that the Defendant did not know the circumstances in which the car had been acquired. The Defendant knew that he was joining a party, all equally concerned in this trip to Southend, and one member of the party was going to drive on behalf of all the others, so that the party could to Southend. By paying a contribution for petrol he joined the party as an equal member.

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