Man paralysed by uninsured 4×4 on private land wins case

A walker who was left paralysed when a Lincolnshire farmer ran him down in an uninsured 4X4 is due massive damages following a landmark court ruling.

Farmer Dennis Tindale, 83, “erroneously assumed” he was in pursuit of metal thieves when he set off across a field in a Nissan Terrano.

After motoring along a footpath, he drove through a barbed wire fence and collided with Michael Lewis, causing catastrophic injuries. The incident left Mr Lewis paralysed from the neck down.

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Mr Tindale insisted he had not deliberately struck Mr Lewis and in 2014 was cleared by a jury of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

But Mr Lewis sued the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) – the industry body that compensates victims of uninsured drivers.

The 73-year-old was reportedly awarded €1m (£880,000) in damages last year, but the MIB appealed.

It argued that because the farmer was not driving the vehicle on “a road or other public place”, it did not have to pay up.

But at the Court of Appeal in London on Wednesday (4 June), Lord Justice Flaux upheld Mr Lewis’s claim.

The MIB’s argument that it had no duty to pay, because the June 2013 accident happened on private land, was “wholly artificial”, the judge ruled.

Lord Justice Flaux also said the MIB’s refusal to pay breached the UK’s “unconditional and precise” obligations under European Law.

Substantial payout

Describing the incident, which happened in 2013, the judge said that when Mr Tindale spotted Mr Lewis and friends walking across a field, “he erroneously assumed that he had been up to no good”.

He drove from his home at Village Farm, Marton, near Gainsborough, along the Trent Port Road, then along a footpath at the top of a flood bank.

He then drove through a barbed wire fence into the field before colliding with Mr Lewis, who suffered a broken neck and was left quadriplegic.

The ruling entitles Mr Lewis to substantial compensation from the MIB. His payout has yet to be assessed, but is likely to run into seven figures.

It also means that, under European law, the UK is obliged to ensure compulsory insurance of motor vehicles – even those used only on private land.