This article is in our local evening newspaper, and carries a worrying tale for caravanners:
"A caravan enthusiast's bit to clear himself of blame for a road smash which killed a woman and left a motorcyclist having to use a wheelchair, ended in failure at London's Appeal Court.
On a bank holiday in 2003 Derek Wilkinson from Batley was towing his caravan on the A429 in the Cotswolds when one of his tyres blew out and he was forced to pull over.
Mr Wilkinson put on his hazard warning lights and attempted to fix the puncture whilst his wife kept a lookout for traffic.
Half an hour later motorist Iain McIlvaine failed to see the caravan until he was 12 metres from it, braked hard and swerved. Motorcyclist Anatole West was close behind Mr McIlvaine's car and came off as he too tried to avoid a crash. He and his passenger slid under a car. Mr West was left paraplegic and his girlfriend died. Mr West sued both Mr Wilkinson (caravanner) and Mr McIlvaine (motorist) for very substantial damages, cleaiming that their negligence had led to the terrible accident.
A judge at Coventry ruled that Mr West was 60 per cent responsible and allotted the remaining liability equally at 20 per cent each, between the motorist and the caravanner.
Mr Wilkinson did not accept he was in any way to blame and took his fight to the Appeal Court in London. His application for permission to appeal against the court finding was refused, however, and his appeal against the apportionment of liabilities was also dismissed. Mr Lord Justice Thomas ruled that Mr Wilkinson must bear a share of responsibility. Despite his other precautions, Mr Wilkinson had an emergency warning triangle but had not used it."
So, if you're carrying a warning triangle, and in an incident or accident, make sure you use it. It makes you wonder how much easier it is to see an two foot high red warning triangle than an eight foot high white caravan!!!
"A caravan enthusiast's bit to clear himself of blame for a road smash which killed a woman and left a motorcyclist having to use a wheelchair, ended in failure at London's Appeal Court.
On a bank holiday in 2003 Derek Wilkinson from Batley was towing his caravan on the A429 in the Cotswolds when one of his tyres blew out and he was forced to pull over.
Mr Wilkinson put on his hazard warning lights and attempted to fix the puncture whilst his wife kept a lookout for traffic.
Half an hour later motorist Iain McIlvaine failed to see the caravan until he was 12 metres from it, braked hard and swerved. Motorcyclist Anatole West was close behind Mr McIlvaine's car and came off as he too tried to avoid a crash. He and his passenger slid under a car. Mr West was left paraplegic and his girlfriend died. Mr West sued both Mr Wilkinson (caravanner) and Mr McIlvaine (motorist) for very substantial damages, cleaiming that their negligence had led to the terrible accident.
A judge at Coventry ruled that Mr West was 60 per cent responsible and allotted the remaining liability equally at 20 per cent each, between the motorist and the caravanner.
Mr Wilkinson did not accept he was in any way to blame and took his fight to the Appeal Court in London. His application for permission to appeal against the court finding was refused, however, and his appeal against the apportionment of liabilities was also dismissed. Mr Lord Justice Thomas ruled that Mr Wilkinson must bear a share of responsibility. Despite his other precautions, Mr Wilkinson had an emergency warning triangle but had not used it."
So, if you're carrying a warning triangle, and in an incident or accident, make sure you use it. It makes you wonder how much easier it is to see an two foot high red warning triangle than an eight foot high white caravan!!!
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