WHEEL CAME OFF CAR

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29366, 19 November 1960, Page 7

WHEEL CAME OFF CAR

Claim Against Tyre Firm Fails

Holding that William Thomas Hector Harris had failed to establish that Hayes Tyres, Ltd., was negligent or had delivered Harris’s car in a dangerous and unroadworthy condition, Mr N. M. Izard, S;M., gave judgment to Hayes Tyres, Ltd., in a reserved decision.

On September 9. Harris (Mr B. J. Drake) claimed £175 18s lOd as costs of damages to his car when the left rear wheel came off while crossing the Blenheim road overhead bridge, from Hayes Tyres, Ltd. (Mr C. B. Atkinson). Harris alleged negligence on the part of the defendant in failing to tighten the nuts on the wheel after supplying and fitting a new tyre in September, 1958, six weeks before the accident The Magistrate reserved his decision. “Evidence establishes that the wheel may have come off through latent defects in the studholes and some nuts must have come loose and rattled inside the hubcap for some time before the wheel came off,” said the Magistrate in giving judgment “If this was so I find that an ordinary reasonable motorist would hear rattling inside the hubcap and would investigate and remedy it before the wheel fell off. “Had the wheel come off within a short time of being put on I think the maxim ‘res ipsa loquitur’ might have applied but I am not prepared to accept its continued application after six weeks,” said the Magistrate;

Roller Skating Record.— New Zealand’s 20.000 metre world champion roller skater. M. P. Wybrott of Hastings, broke the New Zealand 10-mile record at Trafalgar Park, Nelson. He returned a record time of 40min 40sec. The old record of 42min 28sec was held by G. Miller, of Paraparaumu Beach.—