Press reports suggest the government is encouraging teachers to start taking pupils on outward-bound trips that have declined in popularity apparently owing to litigation fears following the deaths of pupils. Teachers are calling on the government to protect them from claims arising from such activities.


In fact, any civil claim is based on a degree of fault. A true 'accident' without fault

does not give rise to a compensation claim.



The legal system already protects teachers and local authorities. We do not live in an environment of 'strict liability'. The reason for the decline [in popularity of outward-bound trips] is because of the misinformed impression that we live in a 'compensation culture'. The media and the government should answer for that, not the lawyers.



Marc Folgate, Scrivenger Seabrook, St Neots, Cambridgeshire