Firm not liable for Storm Eunice death, judge rules

A company is not liable for the death of a worker whose van was crushed by a falling tree during a named storm, a judge has ruled.

Jack Bristow, 23, a father of one from Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, died near Alton, Hampshire, during Storm Eunice in 2022.

His parents argued traffic control firm Hooke Highways had breached its duty of care by sending him out following a Met Office dangerous weather warning without taking extra precautions.

However, at the High Court, Judge Irena Sabic KC ruled the accident was not reasonably foreseeable.

Bristow was a passenger in the van that was travelling along Old Odiham Road at about 11:45 GMT on 18 February.

A witness saw a "huge tree fall instantly and almost with precision on the front of the van over the cab area", the judge said.

The van driver, Callum Smith, was injured but survived.

In the early hours, the Met Office had announced a red weather warning of "extremely strong winds" in the area, the court heard.

However, the firm did not cancel the men's job, which was to collect traffic management equipment to stop it being blown around.

In court, the parents said no proper risk assessment had been carried out for the journey.

However, Judge Sabic said there was no travel ban in place, and she was wary of setting new standards for negligence.

Her judgment said: "There is no reason in principle why the standard of care advocated by the Claimants would not apply to other Red Weather Warnings, which are becoming more frequent.

"My view is that the precautions that the Claimants say should reasonably have been taken are not practicable or realistic – the risk of this horrific accident occurring was simply not foreseeable."

The judge expressed sympathy for Bristow's parents, who she said had described him as "hard-working, caring, witty and completely devoted" to his one-year-old son.

The parents' second claim for damages, against David Meisels who owned the land from which the tree fell, will be determined "in due course", she said.