Garry Hertzberg, practising attorney at Dewey Hertzberg Levy and host of the Laws of Life with Garry Hertzberg on Cliffcentral.com, writes:
South African trains are dangerous, or are they?
It has been reported that commuter trains are dangerous because there are thugs riding up and down, robbing commuters, assaulting them and throwing them off the trains. To make matters worse, there is often overcrowding, with desperate commuters hanging off the sides and pushing and shoving to get on and off.
The lack of security services on trains combined with overcrowding has led to numerous accidents and incidents on passenger trains over the past few years. These accidents have in turn led to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) being sued by members of the public who have been injured.
But not all of these claims are genuine.
In the High Court, a recent judgment was handed down to a man who decided to try and take advantage of this trend. This man decided to take on Prasa in court claiming that he had been a standing passenger on a train in the middle of the coach, and as the doors of the carriage opened, the crowds of commuters surged for the opening, pushing him out of the door and causing him to fall and hurt himself, knocking him out until he awoke in hospital.
It’s a terrible story, except that the court decided that it was not true and found that he was a liar.
The man had not noticed two witnesses who proved that the man’s story was a fabrication and that he had not been pushed off the train and was on the platform all along. He was seen walking with headphones on dangerously close to the train tracks and was hit by the train leaving the station, so he could not have been pushed out by a crowd.
The court accepted the evidence of the witnesses, that the man had lied and that Prasa was not liable for anything and threw the claim out of court and ordered the man to pay all the legal costs.
It is likely that costs in the High Court could run into tens of thousands of rands which the liar will have to pay for the rest of his life. Justice.
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