This was an application by a Mr Veselin Ivanov against Arriva Kent Thameside Ltd for damages following a road traffic incident that occurred in Dartford, Kent in June 2018.
The court was told that the incident took place at the end of a road known as Sharp Way when an Arriva bus, driven by Mr Robert Small, was performing a right turn into this road from Trevithick Drive.
It was common ground that the bus and Mr Ivanov’s car collided. The issues in dispute were the exact timings and positions of the bus and the car when the collision took place. No easy task for the court especially with the absence of any CCTV or independent witness evidence.
It was the claimant’s case that Mr Ivanov’s car was stationary at the junction and as the bus turned onto Sharp Way it hit the rear side. It was the defendant’s case that the bus had completed the turn and had stopped to allow Mr Ivanov’s car, which was said to have been overtaking parked cars, to pass. Mr Small told the court that as the car returned to its side of the road following the overtake, its back end had swung out, and it was this part of the car that had made contact with the bus.
Evidence was provided to the court in the form of oral and written submissions from the car driver Mr Ivanov, his passenger Mr Atanasov and from the bus driver Mr Small. A selection of photographs was also provided, both taken at around the time of the accident and obtained from Google street view.
Any readers familiar with court paperwork will be aware of the third rule of Sedley’s Laws of Documents which states ‘No two copies of any bundle shall have the same pagination’. It was no surprise that the page numbering of certain photographs were somewhat inconsistent between the judges and counsels bundle leading Deputy District Judge Campbell to state “It’s going to be much easier if you stop using page numbers”. Perhaps regrettably counsel persisted in using them leading to an exasperated response of “I don’t want you to refer to photographs by page number any more. Can you restrain yourself?”
In handing down judgement at the end of this 3-hour-hearing DDJ Campbell said he couldn’t “say what the truth is because I wasn’t there. That is a shortcoming that all courts have to struggle with.”
He explained that in a road traffic incident “it’s very, very difficult for those involved to give dispassionate reliable evidence sometime after the event” although he did acknowledge that both parties “did their best to help the court as honestly as they could” and “have given accounts which were entirely plausible”.
He explained he had to “remind himself of the burden of proof… I have to look at this case and ask has the claimant proved his case. The defendant doesn’t need to prove anything.”
The judge said that the accident as described in evidence was not the same as pleaded within the particulars of claim or within the case summery. The judge referred to inconsistencies between the claimant’s statement that “there were no parked cars” and photographs from the time of the accident which showed “there were parked cars on the claimants right”.
In dismissing the claim DDJ Campbell concluded that “the claimant hasn’t proved his case on the balance of probabilities” and ordered that Mr Veselin Ivanov pays the costs of the defendant Arriva Kent Thameside Ltd.
In The County Court and The Family Court at Dartford
Dartford County Court
Friday 26 March 2021
Before DDJ Campbell
(CVP) (I) F79YJ084 IVANOV -v- ARRIVA KENT THAMESIDE LTD – FAST TRACK 3 HOURS
Mouse in the Court 