WILLIAM WILSON -v- JAMES TODD T/A TODD'S OF COLERAINE

Coleraine County Court
11 October 2001
Deputy Judge McFerran
Civil Bill - £10,000

The Plaintiff claimed damages for personal injuries sustained by him by reason of the negligence and breach of contract of the Defendant. He alleged that the Defendants had failed to properly repair the brakes to his car, and the brake cylinder that they had installed on 29 October 1997 had leaked. He alleged that on 30 October 1997, his car when out of control and mounted a kerb as a result of brake failure, and he sustained personal injuries to his neck, shoulder and lower back.

It was put to the Plaintiff that there were a number of conflicting accounts given by him to the doctors who had examined him. He had told Mr Wali FRCS that he used the handbrake and had gone down the gears and, when he had used the handbrake, he was "jerked forward."

He told Mr Dane that he used the handbrake and the car ran against a high kerb. In the Replies to Particulars, the Plaintiff alleged that he had "mounted a high kerb." In his evidence to the Court he said that on applying the handbrake, he moved forward and the car came to a rest near the kerb, and that no damage at all was sustained to the vehicle or the tyres.

The Judge said that he did not require to hear engineering evidence. He said that he was not satisfied that the Plaintiff could have sustained an injury as described. The Judge dismissed the Plaintiff's case.