Jones v Livox Quarries [1952] 2 QB 608  Court of Appeal

The claimant worked in the defendant’s quarry. One lunch break he hitched a lift back to the canteen by standing on the tow bar of a traxcavator. The driver of the traxcavator was unaware that the claimant had jumped on the back and it was against company rules to stand on the back of the traxcavators. Unfortunately a dumper truck, driven recklessly by another employee, crashed into the back of the traxcavator crushing the claimant’s legs. Consequently the claimant had to have his legs amputated.

Held:

The defendant was liable but the claimant was held to be 1/5 to blame under the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945. He had acted against orders and exposed himself to danger.

Lord Denning MR:

“Just as actionable negligence requires the foreseeability of harm to others, so contributory negligence requires the foreseeability of harm to oneself. A person is guilty of contributory negligence if he ought reasonably to have foreseen that, if he did not act as a reasonable, prudent man, he might be hurt himself: and in his reckonings he must take into account the possibility of others being careless.”