COLLINS V LAWRENCE

[2017] EWCA Civ 2268, Court of Appeal (Civil Division), Lord Justice Hamblen, 23 November 2017

Carriage (passengers) - Meaning of disembarkation - Time bar - Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea 1974

The applicant claimant had been on a fishing trip off the coast of Kent when he injured himself disembarking. Disembarkation was via free-standing, semi-permanent steps onto the beach. If the Athens Convention applied to the claim, it was time barred after two years, before the action was commenced. This depended on whether disembarkation had taken place, or was still in progress. The judge at first instance had found that the claimant slipped on a wet wooden board at the bottom of the stairs, that disembarkation had not been completed, that the Athens Convention accordingly applied and that the claimant's claim was time barred.