CARROLL V TAYLOR AND OTHERS

[2020] EWHC 153 (QB), Queen’s Bench Division, Mrs Justice Tipples, 30 January 2020

Insurance (motor) – Whether injuries arising out of use of motor vehicle – Claimant robbed and abandoned by taxi driver – Injured 45 minutes later – Road Traffic Act 1988, section 145 – European Communities (Rights against Insurers) Regulations 2002

After going out drinking in Liverpool on 19 August 2012 NC hailed a black cab at around 03:00. The driver, MT, managed to steal NC’s debit card and replace it with another, also stolen. The taxi stopped at a cash machine so that NC could withdraw some cash. MT went with him and watched NC tap in his pin number. Having ascertained the pin number, MT abandoned NC. While walking home, after about 45 minutes NC fell off the barrier of a motorway bridge and sustained life-changing injuries. A claim was brought against the insurers of the taxi under the European Communities (Rights against Insurers) Regulations 2002. He argued that his injuries were caused by or arising out of the use of the taxi on a road, so that insurance was compulsory under section 145 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.