10/09/2025
News, Judgments
Temple Garden Chambers is a leading common law set based in London and The Hague.
With excellence from top to bottom Chambers provides a first class service in a number of different fields.
Temple Garden Chambers is a leading common law set based in London and The Hague.
With excellence from top to bottom Chambers provides a first class service in a number of different fields.
27/10/2025
A self-employed gardener died when he was crushed under a quad bike (also known as an all-terrain vehicle) he was operating. He had been provided with the quad bike together with a rear mounted spray tank to undertake herbicide spraying. He was working for a husband and wife in fields immediately adjacent to their home in Monmouthshire. They were also in business together in a farming Partnership. The Partnerships had one employee. The prosecution case was that the work being undertaken by the gardener (and others) formed part of the Partnership’s undertaking and that, therefore, a duty was owned under sections 3 and 4 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The defence case was that the work was domestic and did not form part of the Partnership’s undertaking. In any event the defence case was that even if a duty was owed under sections 3 and/or 4 of the Act, they had done was reasonably practicable to comply with those duties. The prosecution elected to prosecute the husband and wife personally, in their capacity as partners in the Partnership, rather than the Partnership itself. Following a two-week trial, the jury returned unanimous verdicts of Not Guilty.
The case attracted considerable media interest. See for example: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgkl35d2m2o and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c33pzxkdng4o
Keith was instructed by Neil Scott, Catherine Thompson and Darcy Rak of DAC Beachcroft.
