Description
This action concerned liability for a road accident involving the Pursuer's car and a car being driven by the Defenders' employee, M. Quantum was agreed and a Proof on liability took place at which the Pursuer and M were the only witnesses. The accident occurred on a road which had four lanes, two in each direction. M had been in the process of carrying out a u-turn from the south bound carriageway to the north bound carriageway. During the course of this manoeuvre, he had stopped in a gap in a line of stationary vehicles in the off side lane of the north bound carriageway and the front of his car was protruding into the nearside lane. M maintained that his car had been stationary when it was struck by the Pursuer's car, which had been travelling in the near side lane of the north bound carriageway. The Pursuer's evidence was that he had been travelling along the near side lane and had seen M's car edging out into that lane. As he passed M's car it had moved forward and had struck his car. The Sheriff accepted the Pursuer's version of events and found that M had been at fault. He held that the Pursuer had contributed to the accident to the extent of 25%, however, as he had decided not to pause or stop when he saw the M's car edging forward when, by his own admission, he had been unclear about what M intended to do.
