Tort Examination - Part A - Documentation

You are a trainee solicitor with Heaths Solicitors LLP. Your firm specialises in personal injury work.

A new client, Dhilan Shah, contacted your firm on 25 April 2025. Dhilan sustained injuries in a road traffic accident which he alleges was caused by Alan Mason. Your supervising solicitor Jitesh Patel has taken a proof of evidence from Dhilan (see DOCUMENT Aattached).

Following the first interview, Jitesh obtained a proof of evidence from Shayna Ellis, an independent witness (see DOCUMENT Battached).

Jitesh asks you to read DOCUMENT A and DOCUMENT B. He also provides you with a copy of The Highway Code (see the relevant extracts contained in DOCUMENT Cattached)and asks you to carry out the following research based on the extracts of The Highway Code contained in DOCUMENT C:

1. Identify any relevant sections of The Highway Code that may assist Dhilan's claim in negligence against Alan Mason.

1. Identify any relevant sections of The Highway Code that Alan Mason may attempt to rely upon in his defence.

DOCUMENT A

PROOF OF EVIDENCE

I, Dhilan Shah of 12 Thornton Avenue, Haven, Kent HF4 2TD will say as follows:-

1. I am employed as a senior buyer and team manager for a company which supplies organic farm fresh products. My date of birth is 6^th November 1989. I live with my girlfriend at the above address.

2. On Friday 11^th October 2024 at 7.50 am I was driving my Mercedes SLK registration mark LX73 DST along the B1267 which runs through the village of Bickley. I was travelling from my home in Haven to an appointment at a farmhouse in Bickley. It was raining a little and the road was wet. Bickley is a country village and the B1267 is quite narrow and winding. As this is an area with a number of houses, the speed limit is 30 miles per hour.There are also signs confirming that speed limit.

3. As I approached the farmhouse where my appointment was to take place, I was driving well within the speed limit. The house is set back from the road down a driveway with a narrow entrance, so I needed to make a sharp left turn off the road into the driveway. In order to EXECUTE, I slowed right down as I approached the driveway and indicated that I was intending to turn left. I noticed that there was a car coming towards me on the opposite side of the road. Through my rear view mirror I could see a delivery lorry, on my side of the road, some distance behind me.

4. As I was slowing down on the approach to the driveway, I began to worry that the delivery lorry seemed to be going quite fast. It appeared to be coming up behind me quite quickly. However, I assumed that the lorry driver would notice that I was slowing down, because he would see my brake lights and my left hand indicator.

5. Unfortunately, it seems that the lorry driver did not notice that I was slowing down.As I reached the house driveway where I was intending to turn left, I brought the car almost to a halt. Just as I was about to commence the turn into the driveway the delivery lorry appeared round the bend behind me and ploughed into the back of my car. My car was pushed forward by the lorry and hit the stone gate pillar of the driveway.

6. I remained conscious throughout the incident but my car was so badly mangled, I had to be cut from the car by the fire service. This took 2 hours, during which time I was in severe pain as I was pinned inside the vehicle.

7. I understand that the lorry was being driven by a man called Alan Mason. He was very upset by the accident, but was unhurt as his cab is so much higher up than my vehicle. I understand that Alan Mason was employed by the owner of the delivery lorry: Parcels Delivery Ltd. I also understand that Alan Mason was not convicted of any criminal offence in relation to my accident.

8. After the accident I was taken to the Kent County NHS General Hospital where I was found to have a broken left knee, a fractured left elbow, a number of broken ribs, multiple abrasions to my head and body and compression of the spine. I had an operation to pin my elbow and was in hospital for 14 days during which time I was visited by my girlfriend every day. She calculates her travelling expenses to hospital and from hospital have been 300.00.

9. My parents also visited me twice while I was in hospital at a cost of 100.00 in travelling expenses. On discharge from hospital, my girlfriend looked after me at home including helping me to wash and dress myself. She did this for 4 weeks. She has a part-time job in a bank but cut down the hours she worked in order to assist me. She estimates that her net wages were reduced by a total of 500.00. I have also attended physiotherapy at the Haven Physiotherapy Private Clinic twice a week for 4 weeks. It cost me 40 in taxi fares each time on a round trip basis to get to the Private Clinic and back home, so a total of 400.00 in taxi fares. The physio was paid for by my medical insurance so cost me nothing.

10 I had to return to hospital after a month to have the pin removed from my elbow. That was just an overnight stay. My physiotherapy at the Private Clinic has now ceased. I eventually returned to work, after 6 weeks' absence in total, towards the end of November 2024. The accident has affected my social life, though. I have some ongoing low level pain, I cannot jog any more, and I no longer play tennis or the guitar on account of tenderness in my elbow and pain in my back. I have regular check-ups with my GP, Dr Joseph Bateman, at the Kent Downs GP's Surgery.

11.I am employed by Organic Farm Fresh Products Ltd of Canterbury. The company sells organic farm fresh products and I am employed as a senior buyer. I lead a team of staff as well as making my own visits to farm suppliers. I am not provided with a company vehicle. The car is my own and was badly damaged in the accident.I hired a vehicle for my own use whilst the car was being repaired. This was for five weeks at 400 per week, so a total of 2000.00. The repairs to my car cost me 6,000.

12.My basic annual salary is just under 52,000 net of tax and NI (which is 1000 net per week). Whilst I was absent from work for 6 weeks due to the accident, I received just 500 per week from my employers by way of company sick pay under my contract. I am not under any obligation to repay any of the sick pay to my employer. Other items damaged or lost in the accident are:

Suit damaged beyond repair 400

Wrist watch lost in accident 200

600

13.In addition to my employment with Organic Farm Fresh Products Ltd, I also used to earn some extra money from giving private tennis lessons. I only carried out this work during the summer months - from July to September each year. I earned an average of 4000.00 per year net from this work. My GP has told me that the residual effects of my injuries mean that I will no longer be able to carry out this work in the future.

...

Signed: D. Shah

Name: D. Shah Dated: 2 May 2025

DOCUMENT B

PROOF OF EVIDENCE

I, Shayna Ellis of 1 Station Road, Norton, Kent, CF6 3SJ will say as follows:-

1. On Friday 11^th October 2024, I witnessed an accident involving a Mercedes car and a parcel delivery lorry. I now know the car to have been driven by Dhilan Shah and I am aware that the parcel delivery lorry belonged to Parcel Delivery Ltd. The accident took place at about 7.50 am on the B1267 as it passes through the village of Bickley.

2. At the time of the accident I was driving my car on the B1267 heading towards Haven.I am employed as a teacher and I was on my way to work. The B1267 is quite a narrow road and it goes round several bends as it passes through Bickley village. Because of the bends in the road it is often not possible to see very far ahead. The speed limit is 30 miles per hour but I often drive slower in places where I cannot see very far up the road in front of me. I was also aware that it was raining a little and the road was wet.

3. Just before the accident happened I saw the Mercedes coming towards me on its own side of the road. It appeared to be going at about 20 miles per hour so far as I could tell. Further down the road, behind the Mercedes, I could see the delivery lorry belonging to Parcel Delivery Ltd. There were a couple of bends in the road between the two vehicles.Nevertheless, it was clear that the delivery lorry was going faster than the Mercedes so was gradually catching it up.I would say that the delivery lorry was going at about 30 miles per hour.

4. I noticed that the Mercedes was approaching the driveway to a farmhouse. It began to slow down and I had the impression that the driver was perhaps looking for the address and was unsure of the exact location of the driveway entrance. I then saw that the driver of the Mercedes had seen the driveway because he slowed down quite rapidly and brought the car nearly to a halt.

5. At that moment the delivery lorry came round the bend in the road behind the Mercedes.I heard the squeal of brakes from the lorry and I stopped my own car, pulling over to the side of the road and onto the verge so as not to be involved in any possible collision. As I had anticipated, the delivery lorry was unable to stop in time and it collided with the back of the Mercedes pushing it into the stone gate pillar at the end of the driveway.

6. I got out of my car and used my mobile phone to call the police and an ambulance.Both I and the driver of the delivery lorry remained at the scene until the ambulance and police arrived. The driver of the delivery lorry kept saying: "I wasn't speeding. He braked suddenly and never indicated that he was turning off". When I thought about it afterwards, I could not say whether or not the Mercedes had been indicating left to turn into the driveway. I cannot recall seeing the indicator light, as he did slow down quite suddenly when he noticed the driveway. The lorry driver also told me that he was worried his boss would be unhappy because he shouldn't even have been in Bickley that day as he had already completed all his deliveries. He told me that he was only in Bickley because his uncle lives there and he wanted to drop off a birthday card to him.Before I left the scene of the accident I gave my address to the police. I also took a photograph on my mobile phone.

...

Signed: S. Ellis

Name: S. Ellis Dated: 7 May 2024

DOCUMENT C

Extracts from The Highway Code

Rule 103

Signals warn and inform other road users, including pedestrians ... of your intended actions. You should always

• give clear signals in plenty of time, having checked it is not misleading to signal at that time
• use them to advise other road users before changing course or direction, stopping or moving off
• cancel them after use
• make sure your signals will not confuse others. If, for instance, you want to stop after a side road, do not signal until you are passing the road. If you signal earlier it may give the impression that you intend to turn into the road. Your brake lights will warn traffic behind you that you are slowing down ...

Rule 104

You should also

• watch out for signals given by other road users and proceed only when you are satisfied that it is safe
• be aware that an indicator on another vehicle may not have been cancelled.

Braking

Rule 117

In normal circumstances.The safest way to brake is to do so early and lightly. Brake more firmly as you begin to stop. Ease the pressure off just before the vehicle comes to rest to avoid a jerky stop.

...

Rule 124

YouMUST NOTexceed the maximum speed limits for the road and for your vehicle ... A speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h), or 20mph (32km/h) in Wales, generally applies to all roads with street lights (excluding motorways) unless signs show otherwise.

Rule 125

The speed limit is the absolute maximum and does not mean it is safe to drive at that speed irrespective of conditions. Unsafe speed increases the chances of causing a collision (or being unable to avoid one), as well as its severity. Inappropriate speeds are also intimidating, deterring people from walking, cycling or riding horses. Driving at speeds too fast for the road and traffic conditions is dangerous. You should always reduce your speed when

• the road layout or condition presents hazards, such as bends
• sharing the road with pedestrians, particularly children, older adults or disabled people, cyclists and horse riders, horse drawn vehicles and motorcyclists
• weather conditions make it safer to do so
• driving at night as it is more difficult to see other road users.

Rule 126

...

...Drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.

You should

• leave enough space between you and the vehicle in front so that you can pull up safely if it suddenly slows down or stops. ...
• allow at least a two-second gap between you and the vehicle in front on high-speed roads and in tunnels where visibility is reduced. The gap should be at least doubled on wet roads and up to ten times greater on icy roads
• remember, large vehicles and motorcycles need a greater distance to stop. ...

Tailgatingis where the gap between you and the vehicle in front is too small for you to be able to stop safely if the vehicle in front suddenly brakes.

Tailgating is dangerous, intimidating and can cause collisions, especially when driving at speed. Keeping a safe distance from the vehicle in front gives you time to react and stop ifnecessary.ANSWER USING IRAC FORMAT