Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977
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The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 — to its users, “UCTA” — is a plank of United Kingdom consumer protection legislation. It limits and in some places overrides basic common law principles as to what kind of losses or damages a contractual party can be liable to. Relevant for exclusion clauses which seek to ludicrously restrict the liability a merchant can have for doing what it promised to do.
On point in the extraordinarily ill-judged (by the appellant) litigation in ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis
Scope
Unlike the “EU influenced” Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, which are apecificallly consumer-related, UCTA proper applies to all “contracts” and not just consumer contracts, or contracts with little old ladies who make bad law.
Exclusion of liability for negligence
Contractual exclusion of liability for negligence is outright prohibited should that negligence lead to death or personal injury:
Section 2(1) provides:
“A person cannot by reference to any contract term or to a notice given to persons generally or to particular persons exclude or restrict his liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence.”[1]
In other cases is hedged around by a requirement for reasonableness:
“(2) In the case of other loss or damage, a person cannot so exclude or restrict his liability for negligence except in so far as the term or notice satisfies the requirement of reasonableness.
(3) Where a contract term or notice purports to exclude or restrict liability for negligence a person’s agreement to or awareness of it is not of itself to be taken as indicating his voluntary acceptance of any risk.[2]