Gilkes v Sandiford

• Jurisdiction: Barbados
• Court: High Court (Barbados)
• Judge: Rocheford, J.
• Judgment Date: 10 November 1978
• Neutral Citation: BB 1978 HC 74
• Docket Number: No. 557 of 1977
• Date: 10 November 1978

High Court

Rocheford, J.

No. 557 of 1977

Gilkes

and

Sandiford

Mr. P. Williams and Mr. J. Payne for the plaintiffs.

Mr. J. Connell and Mr. D. Mottley for the defendant.

Damages - Personal Injury — Facial abrasions, neck pains.

Rocheford, J.

1 This is an action for damages for negligence arising out of an accident on Dunscombe Road, St. Thomas on the 5 ^th July, 1977 between the motor lorry S. 255 and the motorcar M. 9937. The plaintiffs were the owners of the motor lorry and the defendant was the owner and driver of the motorcar. The plaintiffs allege the breach of a statutory duty and negligence on the part of the defendant. The defendant denies the breach of statutory duty and negligence and counterclaims, alleging negligence on the part of the plaintiff's servant. The plaintiffs deny this allegation.

2 With respect to the collision the plaintiffs rely on the evidence of two eyewitnesses, Stephenson Lennox Selman and Clarence Mayers, and also on the photographs taken by Police Constable 283 Hadley Thomas and on measurements taken by Station Sergeant Kenneth Colin Springer. The defendant gave evidence and called no witnesses.

3 The eyewitnesses, Selman, who was a passenger in the cab of the motor lorry and Mayers, who was a passenger standing on the tray of the motor lorry, gave a version of what happened that contradicted the version given by the defendant. According to Selman and Mayers, the defendant's motorcar was travelling very fast, too far over on the motor lorry's side of the road, the driver of the motor lorry drove the lorry further to the left and into the gutter and stopped, and then the motor car struck the motor lorry. The defendant's version is that he was driving his car at or about 10 to 15 miles per hour on his, left and proper side, the motor lorry was driven on his (the defendant's) side of the road and there was no more room on his left, he stopped the motor car, the motor lorry struck the motor car and dragged it from its left side of the road over to the other side of the road.

4 Station Sergeant Springer said that there was a mark 15 feet 6 inches in length on the road. This mark appeared to have been made by the wheels of the motorcar, it was from a wheel of the motorcar and it was diagonally across the road. This mark leads to one conclusion only, that the motorcar was dragged back in the direction from which it had come, diagonally across the road. In other words the...