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Electric shock man loses compensation bid

Feb 28 2010 Sunday Sun

The blast threw him 20ft into the air and left his body smouldering.

He was rushed to the nearby University Hospital of Hartlepool and later had the lower part of one leg amputated.

His barrister Dr Michael Powers QC had argued that the sub stations proximity to a housing estate, primary school and grassed area where children were known to play meant that NEDL should have employed tougher security.

Had he won his case compensation experts estimate Mr Mann would have been awarded a seven figure sum.

Counsel for NEDL argued that the compound’s railings were topped with razor wire and that anti-climb devices had been installed on either side of the gates.

Lord Justice Wilson rejected the compensation claim saying that it wasn’t reasonable for NEDL to conceive that someone would be determined enough to gain entry that they would carry out the same actions as Mr Mann.

He said: “No amount of security measures will keep out a sufficiently determined trespasser.

“Entry by the means adopted in the present case was not foreseeable and it was for that reason not reasonably practicable for the defendants to take further steps in relation to its wall.”

Mr Mann originally had his claim for damages rejected last March at Middlesbrough County Court.

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