WITLEY Parish Council is facing a damages bill of up to £500,000 after losing its High Court appeal concerning an horrific acccident in 2012, which left a bus driver with life-changing injuries.

Fernhurst resident Andrew Cavanagh, 58, was seriously injured and in intensive care for 13 days after a giant 80ft lime tree crashed on to the cab of the bus he was driving through the village, in January 2012.

Mr Cavanagh was driving the single-decker Stagecoach bus on the A283 Petworth Road, when the accident occurred leaving him with life-threatening injuries.

No one else was hurt in the incident.

He was left with a brain injury, numerous fractures to his face and body, and subsequently lost the use of his right hand.

Mr Cavanagh sued both Witley Parish Council and its tree surgeon David Shepherd for damages in the High Court, in December 2016.

The tree had been subject to a three-year cycle of inspection included in surveys arranged by the parish council in 2006 and 2009, and carried out by the tree surgeon.

Investigations revealed it fell due to extensive decay in the root system, which extended into the base of the trunk.

In February 2017, judge Sir Alistair MacDuff ruled Mr Cavanagh was entitled to compensation of up to £500,000 from the parish council, but not from Mr Shepherd.

The parish council appealed against the decision, but after a a day-long hearing last Wednesday, three senior judges rejected its bid.

Council barrister, Michael Pooles QC, argued that in awarding the right to damages, Sir Alistair MacDuff, was wrong to say the tree was ‘high risk.’

Although it was very tall and heavy, and very close to the roadside, there was nothing to indicate it was a danger, he maintained.

“This is a mature tree in the countryside. There’s nothing unusual about that, it doesn’t make it a high risk tree,” Mr Pooles said.

“Had you driven along this road, you would have found a large number of similar trees.”

In his ruling last year, Sir Alistair said the tree was in an ‘extreme high risk’ location, by the side of a busy road.

He said the council should have had in place a regime of inspections every 18 months in which to look for any defects.

But Mr Pooles said there was no reason why such regular inspections should be made of what looked to all intents and purposes to be a tree in good condition.

The QC told the court: “In 2009, the council has done a proper job of instructing an appropriate expert and got back a clean bill of health.”

He noted that as well as conducting an expert inspection, the council also had its own groundsman and councillors who ‘kept an eye on things.’

Mr Pooles said previous court rulings made it clear landowners should not be expected to be the ‘insurers of nature.’

They should only be expected to act when there is a danger which they ‘can see with their own eyes.’

He added: “The judge has concluded this is to be treated as an exceptional tree and to be inspected, as he would have it, every 18 months.

“That is a remarkable conclusion to reach in respect of – albeit large – a tree that is in every apparent respect healthy until the day it falls over.

“In our judgment, the judge fell into error. There is no proper evidential basis for his conclusion.”

After considering the arguments, Lord Justice Bean – sitting with Lord Justice Flaux and Sir Henry Carr – upheld Mr Cavanagh’s right to damages.

Justice Bean said: “We have come to the conclusion the appeal will be dismissed and Sir Alistair MacDuff’s judgment will stand.”

The judges will give their reasons for dismissing the appeal at a later date, and the case will now return to court for an assessment of the amount of compensation, unless otherwise agreed.

A spokesman said: “The parish council is awaiting the written decision of the court and will consider the matter further at that stage.”