Law Weblog

Compensation culture – evil

Sunday 10 August 2003 at 12:36 am | In News | Post Comment

The House of Lords said the growing compensation culture is “evil” after ruling against John Tomlinson who sued Congleton Borough Council after breaking his neck when he dived into a flooded gravel pit in 1995; they said he had been reckless.

There were clear ‘No Swimming’ signs around the pit, but Tomlinson claimed the council should have taken better measures to prevent people from swimming, which they regularly did, ignoring the signs.

They said, “When you invite somebody into your house to use the staircase you do not invite them to slide down the banister.”

They said, “The pursuit of an unrestrained culture of blame and compensation has many evil consequences and one is the interference with the liberty of a citizen.

“There is some risk of accidents arising out of the joie de vivre of the young, but it is no reason to impose a grey and dull safety regime on everyone”.

“It is unjust that the harmless recreation of responsible parents and children with buckets and spades on the beaches should be prohibited in order to comply with what is thought to be a legal duty to safeguard irresponsible visitors.”

“The fact that such people take no notice of warnings cannot create a duty to take steps to protect them.”