Collins v Lawrence

Under the Convention Relating to Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea 1974, disembarkation is not complete merely because a passenger has reached an independent platform or a place of safety. It continues while the passenger is moving from the vessel to a safe position on shore and using equipment provided to facilitate that movement. Shore-side steps and a board may form part of that equipment, even if semi-permanently fixed and independent of the vessel. The Convention continues to apply until the passenger steps off the equipment onto the shore.

This was an application for permission to appeal from a decision of His Honour Judge Simpkiss in Canterbury County Court on 21 September 2016. The claimant was injured while descending steps from a fishing boat onto a shingle beach. The judge found that the steps and a board formed part of the disembarkation equipment, that disembarkation was incomplete when the accident occurred, and that the claim was therefore time barred under the Athens Convention. The judge nevertheless found negligence, subject to one-third contributory negligence, and assessed damages at £5,500.

The central issue was whether the claimant had disembarked when he was injured on the board at the bottom of the steps.

1. Application refused. The court held that the proposed appeal had no real prospect of success and that there was no other compelling reason for an appeal.
2. Meaning of disembarkation. Under Article 1.8(a) of the Convention Relating to Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea 1974, the process of disembarkation covers the whole period during which a passenger moves from the vessel to a safe position on shore. A passenger remains in the course of disembarkation while using equipment that facilitates leaving the vessel.
3. Application to the facts. The steps and the board were part of the disembarkation equipment. Disembarkation was therefore not complete until the claimant had stepped off that equipment onto the shingle. The fact that the steps were semi-permanently fixed to the beach, and that the boat could move away from them, created no principled distinction from a shore-side gangway.
4. The suggested place-of-safety approach was rejected. Reaching a platform independent of the vessel did not itself end disembarkation. The interpretation reflected the natural meaning of the word and was consistent with the carrier’s responsibility for the method by which passengers left the vessel.
5. Since the accident occurred during carriage, the Convention applied and the personal injury claim was time barred. The court ordered that the application for permission to appeal be refused.

1. Court of Appeal (Civil Division): On 23 November 2017, Lord Justice Hamblen refused permission to appeal.
2. Canterbury County Court: His Honour Judge Simpkiss decided on 21 September 2016 that disembarkation was incomplete when the claimant was injured, so the claim was time barred. Negligence was established, subject to one-third contributory negligence, with damages assessed at £5,500.