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
Exclusion of liability for one’s 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]