Cricket club liable for firework injury

Bottomley v Secretary and Members of Todmorden Cricket Club and others CA TLR 13 November

Mark Hindle and David Read agreed, for no payment, to run a fireworks display at the Todmorden Cricket Club. The club neglected to take ordinary precautions – it had no public liability insurance cover and there were no written safety plans. Occupiers would usually escape liability in such a case because they could show that they had taken reasonable care to select competent and safe contractors. In those cases, an injured employee or agent could look no further than his own employer or principal for redress. But there might be circumstances in which the occupier of land who wished something dangerous to be done on his land for his benefit might be liable also. This was such a case. The claimant suffered injuries which were foreseeable and there was the requisite proximity between the club and claimant who was lawfully on the premises that evening. It was fair, just and reasonable to impose liability on the club because it did not do what it ought to have done before it allowed a dangerous event to take place on its land.