is a leading

English contract law English contract law is the body of law that regulates legally binding agreements in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countrie ...

case. It gives a good example of the rule that a clause cannot be incorporated after a contract has been concluded, without reasonable notice before. Also, it was held that an automatic ticket machine was an offer, rather than an invitation to treat. Although the case is important for these two propositions, today any exclusion of negligence liability for personal injury by businesses is prohibited by the

Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977c 50 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which regulates contracts by restricting the operation and legality of some contract terms. It extends to nearly all forms of contract and one of its most impo ...

s 2(1) and the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 Sch 2, para(a).

Facts

Francis Thornton, "a free lance

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

of the highest quality", drove to the entrance of the

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (British English, British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian English, Canadian), parking ramp, parking ...

on Shoe Lane, before attending a performance at Farringdon Hall with the BBC. He took a ticket from the

ticket machine A ticket machine, also known as a ticket vending machine (TVM), is a vending machine that produces paper or electronic tickets, or recharges a stored-value card or smart card or the user's mobile wallet, typically on a smartphone. For insta ...

and parked his car. It said

"This ticket is issued subject to the conditions of issue as displayed on the premises".

On the car park pillars near the paying office there was a list, one excluding liability for

"injury to the Customer … howsoever that loss, misdelivery, damage or injury shall be caused".

Three hours later he had an accident before getting into his car. The car park operator argued that the judge should have held the matter regulated by this contract, not tort.

Judgment

Lord Denning MR held that the more onerous the clause, the better notice of it needed to be given. Moreover, the contract was already concluded when the ticket came out of the machine, and so any condition on it could not be incorporated in the contract. Megaw LJ and Sir

Gordon Willmer Sir Henry Gordon Willmer, OBE, TD (11 August 1899''England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007'' – 17 May 1983) was an English lawyer and judge. Willmer was from Birkenhead, Cheshire, the son of Arthur Willmer and the broth ...

agreed with the onerous point, but reserved their opinions on where the contract was concluded. Furthermore, Sir Gordon distinguished this from the other ticket cases based upon the fact that a human clerk proffered the ticket and the buyer had the opportunity to say I do not like those conditions.

Notes

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Full text of the decision at BAILII
Lord Denning cases English incorporation case law English unfair terms case law 1970 in British law Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases 1970 in case law

Facts

Judgment

See also

Notes

References

External links