BROWN V FISK AND OTHERS

[2021] EWHC 2769 (QB), Queen’s Bench Division, Master Dagnall, 29 September 2021

Insurance (motor) – Compulsory insurance – Pedestrian injured in yard – Whether yard was a “public place” – Road Traffic Act 1988, section 151

The claimant (B) claimed to have been injured in a motor accident that was the fault of the first defendant (F). The accident occurred in a yard that was part of a site owned by the Nevill Juvenile Bonfire Society, which organised bonfire and fireworks celebrations. The site was used for storage and for the holding of meetings. It was surrounded by an exterior fence, with entry through double gates. The gates were normally padlocked, but were opened to allow the public to access the yard to buy programmes for Society events and to drop off jumble for jumble sales. The question was whether the yard was a “public place”, in which case insurance would have been compulsory for the use of a vehicle in the yard and F’s insurers would have been liable to pay any damages awarded against F under section 151 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (or, if the policy had been validly avoided, the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) would have faced that liability).