ESCAPE OF WATER FROM PIPE HELD NOT TO GIVE RISE TO LIABILITY UNDER RYLANDS v FLETCHER

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council v British Gas plc, unreported, 16 February 2001

The Court of Appeal in Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council v British Gas plc, unreported, 16 February 2001, held that an owner of a block of flats was not liable to his neighbour for damage caused by water which, without negligence on the part of the owner, had escaped under pressure from a three-inch diameter service pipe under the owner’s control. It was held that strict liability under the rule in Rylands v Fletcher does not arise where the defendant is lawfully using his land for any purpose for which it might in the ordinary course of the enjoyment of land be used, for the supply of services of electricity, gas or water by commonplace methods or by doing those acts necessary for the common and ordinary use and enjoyment of land and houses provided that he is acting reasonably.