The Army and Road-Accidents
A case which was heard at Liverpool Assizes last week illus- trates the difficulty of getting any redress for injuries inflicted be Service cars on the road. An Army car driven by a Captain L. H. Evans on the wrong side of the road and 'without liglus came into collision with another car and caused injuries to the owner-driver and two passengers. The Army, as agent of the Crown, cannot be sued, and in this case refused to accept afl responsibility or to divulge the address of the offender, who ha, since gone to the East, where proceedings cannot be taken spins: him. None of the injured persons was able to get any compel:. satkm. Thus we have the position in which owners arc compellen themselves to take out third-party insurance, but have to tin; the gauntlet of any bad driving there may be by Service cars on the road without any certainty of redress if they are damaged by them. True, the Service driver personally may be sued, e he can be found, but more often than not he could not pay he2c! compensation, and he is not insured. It is a really monstrous thing that at a time when thousands of Service cars are on the roads there should be no legal liability requiring the Services to pay compensation for injuries inflicted. If we were under enemy occupation this would be intelligible. But it is not right that we should be under hostile occupation by our own forces. The strictures passed by Mr. Justice Stables in this case wan abundantly justified.
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