£1900 CLAIM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 184, 5 August 1940, Page 3

£1900 CLAIM.

AGAINST RAILWAY. SEQUEL TO ACCIDENT. UGVEIi CROSSING FATALITY. Arising out of a fatal accident at the Titirangi level crossing on the main northern railway line, a claim for damages was commenced in the Supreme Court to-day before Mr. Justice Johnston by Mrs. Evelyn Maud Poole (Mr. A. H. Johnstone, K.C., and Mr. Stevens) against the Railway Department (Mr. V. R. Meredith and Mr. N. I. Smith). The claim is for £402 10/ special and £1500 general damages. In opening the case for petitioner, Mr. Jnhnstone said it was a petition of right against the Crown, but for all practical purposes could be treated as an ordinary action for damages against the Railway Department, in which the petitioner claimed damages for personal injuries. In December, 1938, a year and eight months ago, the petitioner was a passenger in a small motor car being driven by the late Mr. Charles Parkerson from Titirangi to Auckland when the car came into collision with a goods train at the Titirangi Road crossing. Mrs. Poole was very severely injured in the collision. Counsel said the submission of petitioner was that the collision was wholly or partly due to the negligence of the Railway Department. The crossing, he said, was always dangerous to persons approa * ing it from the Titirangi side, because there was an earthen bank, which obscured the view of the railway to the right. Further, at the time o'f the collision there were extensive works being done at the crossing, in connection with shifting the rails and also moving a water main. The result was that the embankment referred to still further obscured the right-hand view of persons approaching from Titirangi, and also there were left two sets of rails on the track where formerly there had been only one set. The plaintiff's submission was that these two sets of rails, one a roughly ballasted new set, tended to mislead users of the crossing as to which was the line on which to expect a train. The collision in this case resulted in the death of Mr. Parkerson, the driver of the ear, and of Mrs. Poole's mother, a passenger in J he car's back seat, as well of severe injuries to Mrs. Poole, who was in the front seat to the left of the driver. At the time of the collision, with a train proceeding from the New Lynn station on the right-hand side of the car driver, the car had crossed one set of rails safely, to be met by a train on the second set of rails. The submissic of the plaintiff was that negligence by the>Railway Department was in part responsible for the accident. Evidence .on the lines of counsel's opening is being heard.