Animals Act 1971 (Amendment) Bill

I understand where the hon. Gentleman wants to go with this line of inquiry, but it is not true that the vast majority are not insured. The vast majority of claims are covered by the negligence-based route. We are talking about only a very small proportion of claims in the context of strict liability. The Mirvahedy case was eventually a legal dispute between the insurance companies for both parties. Another good illustration is provided by the Llanwnda riding stables in Fishguard in my constituency run by Mrs. Ingrid Evans. She faced a potential case because of an accident that occurred at her school during a riding lesson. Barking dogs had run around a corner causing a horse to bolt and its rider to be thrown. Mrs. Evans was potentially liable under the Animals Act, despite the fact that the horse was known to be generally docile and all sensible precautions had been taken. Her riding school, which also offers courses for the disabled, now faces enormous problems in obtaining affordable insurance. She tells me that her premium has risen from around £900 a year in 2001 to more than £7,000 today: an 800 per cent. increase. She has been forced to increase her prices in an attempt to cope with the rising costs, but she fears that those increases make it harder for lower-income families in relatively poor communities, such as mine in Pembrokeshire, to enjoy the benefits of riding. Similar problems are faced by an increasing number of businesses across the equine industry, including those who have never had a claim against them. The Mirvahedy case has perhaps had the greatest impact on the legal interpretation of the Act, but similar compensation claims have been brought under the Animals Act where the complexity of section 2(2) has again caused confusion. Only last week, the Court of Appeal published its ruling in the case of McKenny v. Foster. In that instance, a cow, driven by maternal instinct, leaped over several obstacles—including, incredibly, a six-bar gate and a 12 ft cattle grid—in order to reach her calf, from which she had been separated. The cow collided with a Vauxhall Vectra, seriously injuring the driver, Helen McKenny, and tragically killing the passenger, Mr. Derek Shaw. Miss McKenny brought a claim under the Animals Act arguing that the fact that cows will go to extreme lengths to reach their calves was a well-known characteristic in cows whose calves have been recently weaned, and that the defendant should have know that. However, after much debate the judge decided that the cow's ability to jump over a gate and a 12 ft cattle grid was unprecedented and could not have been foreseen by the defendants, and so dismissed the claim. Despite that dismissal, we see again the confusion arising from the opaque language of section 2(2)(b) and the lengthy court processes that can ensue.