'L' Plates

W

Walder

Well-Known Member
Joined
21 March 2007
Messages
748
Visit site
i have just read through the post and replies to the 'motorist idiots who dont slow dowm' and someone said they use 'L' plates on young horses - WHAT A GOOD IDEA! why didnt i think of that - im going to use them when taking my new horse out on the roads until i know he is ok with traffic! Good old H&H Forum members for their great ideas! Thanks x
 
i might try this too! i have some spare Ls so will giv it a go....might raise a smile, and if it does that, it might slow the buggers down!
 
Consider your postion first......
If god forbid you have an accident, some insurance investigators will consider L plates and even the wording on your tabard, as a statement!
Don't leave yourself open to somebody claiming you declared your horse nervous, unsuitable for the road, inexperienced rider, or anything else that goes in favour of crazy drivers.

I know this sounds crazy, however always remember, your living in the "compensation culture" and some people will use anything you do to make money!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Consider your postion first......
If god forbid you have an accident, some insurance investigators will consider L plates and even the wording on your tabard, as a statement!
Don't leave yourself open to somebody claiming you declared your horse nervous, unsuitable for the road, inexperienced rider, or anything else that goes in favour of crazy drivers.

I know this sounds crazy, however always remember, your living in the "compensation culture" and some people will use anything you do to make money!

[/ QUOTE ]

I think if we are going to go this far we shouldn't go out on the roads at all - all horses are unpredicatable they are animals! If wearing L plates or a bright yellow tabbard increases your safety on the road then wear it-better that than nothing then crazy driver claims couldnt see as rider had no tabbard on!
 
I'm sure I read somewhere about a car driver getting away with causing injury to a horse because of the tabard saying 'caution young horse' and so the lawyer claimed it was tantamount to admitting liabilty for any accident regardless of whether it was the riders fault or not. Wrong isn't it. I find the type of tabard with the big red warning triangle seems to be most easily understood, I also have a flashing light on my quarter sheet when I use it and one that clips onto a band on my hat and this seems to work quite well as they see the flashing light and take notice. Personally I'd like a tabard which say's 'sit on my ar*e and I'll sit on your bonnet!'
grin.gif
 
Actually i would just like to clear that one up. It is one of those myths that is doing the rounds. The simple princple in liablilty is that you should make every effort to minimise risks to other people, whether that is by advertising that your horse or rider is inexperienced or in some other way - drawing attention to this does not make you more liable but less so. The overriding principle being that as far as possible you have established your horse to be safe on the roads and have taken all reasonable precautions.
Therefore if you have one which is really bad in traffic, and you know it to be so, then wearing a whole Christmas tree won't absolve you if the horse behaves badly and causes damage. However in more normal circumstances anything you do to draw attention to yourself or to warn drivers is a positve.
 
Hi vis will always be recommended, I wear it as do all riders I know.
The issue is indeed the wording on the tabard! Or the various symbols displayed.
Tarquin you are correct in your thoughts, there have been several high profile cases where the wording has been used in defence of a driver, leaving the rider liable for LARGE amounts of money, when the driver was at fault!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hi vis will always be recommended, I wear it as do all riders I know.
The issue is indeed the wording on the tabard! Or the various symbols displayed.
Tarquin you are correct in your thoughts, there have been several high profile cases where the wording has been used in defence of a driver, leaving the rider liable for LARGE amounts of money, when the driver was at fault!!

[/ QUOTE ]

would be very interested in the case law if you can find it, as this is directly contrary to current equine solicitors advice
 
I am aware also of cases where such wording has been used to signify liability. I don't have any particular cases that I can give you, but it has happened on a number of occasions.
Your best bet is to go for plain (unworded) tabards, with maybe exclamation marks, red triangles etc or something simple like 'please pass wide and slow'

Mind you, as a donkey owner too, I told OH last week I want one of those 'ass' tabards!!
laugh.gif
 
The most recent case I can find;-


The case concerned an appeal from a first instance decision in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne County Court where Mrs Bowlt was found liable to Mr Clark when the horse she was riding along the road suddenly and unexpectedly moved into
the path of Mr Clark’s car causing a collision and injuries to both parties.
The trial Judge found that neither party had been negligent but found liability against Mrs Bowlt under Section 2 (2) of the Animals Act. He found that the three stage conjunctive test set out in Section 2 (2) was made out on the basis that (a)
the damage was likely to be severe as the horse was a heavy animal and that (b) the damage was caused by a characteristic not normally found in horse save in certain circumstances, namely a propensity to move otherwise than as directed
by the rider (c) this characteristic was known to Mrs Bowlt.

On appeal their Lordships found that a propensity to move otherwise than as directed by a rider could not amount to a characteristic for the purposes of Section 2 (2) (b). Moreover and importantly when considering the scope of the Animals Act their Lordships found that subsections (a) and (b) were linked to the
extent that the characteristic identified when considering subsection (b) must be the reason why damage was likely or likely to be severe when considering subsection (a). In other words the likelihood of damage or of its severity must
be due to the abnormal characteristic.

This decision will have a huge impact on the fairly common cases where riders and motorists find themselves in conflict on the roads.The perceived wisdom that Mirvahedy carries the day for the Claimant in these cases no longer applies.
9 GOUGH SQUARE’S Giles Mooney successfully appeals
Animals Act case in the Court of Appeal On 26th June 2006

Once you get past all the legalese language the short answer is that the appeal was successful since the appeal judges disagreed with a previous decision of absolute liability in respect of horses under the Animals Act. However it has to be said that if you had a very green horse that was in fact likely to bolt or kick in traffic this decision would not help you, in the event of an older trained animal, for which this behaviour would be out of character, it wouldn't matter what you had printed on your flourescent vest, the fact that you have attempted to make yourself more visible and mitigate risk is the only one to be taken into account
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top