VOLUNTARY PAYMENTS, THIRD PARTIES AND CLAUSE 22 OF THE ICE CONDITIONS

Anglian Water Services Ltd v Crawshaw Robbins & Co Ltd ([2001] BLR 173)

In Anglian Water Services Ltd v Crawshaw Robbins & Co Ltd [2001] BLR 173 the defendant contractors struck the existing water mains, gas mains and electricity cable when carrying out some drilling work in a school playing field. The resultant claim for damages raised a number of issues of legal principle relating to, among other things, the scope of the tort of nuisance and the proper interpretation of clause 22 of the ICE Conditions of Contract, 5th Edition. Mr Justice Stanley Burnton held that the negligent interruption of the gas supply did not of itself amount to a nuisance with the result that the payments made to gas customers who had merely suffered the inconvenience and discomfort of the interruption to their gas supplies were paid voluntarily and not as a matter of legal liability. Further, he held that the claimants were not entitled to recover from the defendants, whether as damages for breach of contract or under clause 22 of the contract, the ‘voluntary’ payments which had been made to the gas customers.