This was found at
www.thisisryedale.co.uk but I've copy/pasted the text as they don't have an archive as such and the article will disappear in a few days.
Farmer must pay up for rambler's carelessnessby Gazette reporterA rambler's failure to shut a gate left a farmer with a massive compensation bill after a motorcyclist ran into a calf and was gravely injured.
And the National Farmers' Union says an Appeal Court decision has left farmers nationally taking the rap for wayward walkers.
Alex Wilson, who has farmed at Chop Gate, near Helmsley, for 36 years, argued he was wrongly blamed for motorcyclist Peter Donaldson's injuries.
Mr Donaldson, 40, of Middlesbrough, suffered a shattered left forearm, head and other injuries when his motorbike collided with Mr Wilson's Friesian bull calf on the B1257 Helmsley to Stokesley road in October 2000.
His lawyers say he will be due six-figure compensation.
At Middlesbrough County Court last October, recorder Mr Bullock ruled Mr Wilson had been "careless" and ordered him to pay Mr Donaldson damages.
At London's Appeal Court, Benjamin Browne QC said that decision was "wrong" and a dangerous precedent which meant "farmers up and down the land" would have to install "fail-safe devices" to stop ramblers from leaving gates open.
But Lord Justice Potter, sitting with Lord Justice Rix and Mr Justice Munby, said it was long-established law that farmers must take "all reasonable precautions" to ensure their animals don't stray.
And he added that, in his view, the court's ruling would not place an "undue financial burden" on farmers who are obliged to provide "cattle-proof means of access" to fields crossed by public rights of way.
Although no similar incident had happened before, Lord Justice Potter said the heavy public use of the footpath created an "obvious danger" that someone, "at some stage", would leave the gate ajar.
Mr Browne earlier told the court Mr Wilson had checked his cattle were in their field at about 6pm on the night of the accident.
All agreed a rambler must have left the gate open some time before 10.50pm, when the accident happened.
Mr Browne told the Appeal Court the gate was installed by the national park authority, who did not inform Mr Wilson any further precautions needed to be taken.
Mr Wilson had never had problems with ramblers failing to close the gate.
Mr Browne said recorder Bullock had set an "unrealistically high standard of care".
But Michael Redfern QC, for Mr Donaldson, successfully argued it was wrong to assume that everyone using the gate would be an experienced rambler who knew the country code.
Upholding recorder Bullock's decision, Lord Justice Potter said: "I find it impossible to fault the reasoning of the judge and the conclusions to which it led."
