Police officer - police personnel officer's negligent advice causing officer economic loss - police commissioner liable in negligence

Lennon v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis: CA (Lords Justice Ward, Mummery and Rix): 20 February 2004

The claimant, an officer with the Metropolitan Police, applied successfully to transfer to serve in Northern Ireland.

Having been wrongly advised by a police personnel officer that his entitlement to housing allowance would not be affected by his taking time off work, he left the Metropolitan Police and took three weeks' unpaid leave before taking up his new duties.

There was thus a break in his continuity of service, causing him to lose for all time his right to monthly housing allowance.

A judge in the county court awarded the claimant 44,000 damages, on the basis that the police commissioner, being in a special relationship with the claimant, owed him a duty of care and was therefore vicariously liable for the economic loss suffered by the claimant as a result of the negligent advise.

The commissioner appealed.

Timothy Pitt-Payne (instructed by Director, Metropolitan Police Legal Services) for the commissioner; Gavin Millar QC and Anthony Hudson (instructed by Russell Jones & Walker) for the claimant.

Held, dismissing the appeal, that the judge had correctly identified the relevant duty of care relating to the negligent omission to warn the claimant of the consequences of a break in the continuity of his service; that the claim did not break new ground and the general principles governing the existence of a duty of care not to cause pure economic loss to another by careless acts or omissions applied to the claim; and that, notwithstanding the absence of a contract of employment between the parties, the special relationship between them made it fair, just and reasonable to impose a general duty of care on the commissioner to give advice to the claimant and in so doing to protect him against economic loss.