Aleading case to illustrate this point is Watt v Hertfordshire County Council (1954). Here, the fire service was summoned to save a woman trapped under an overturned lorry and in order to rescue her, a heavy-duty jack was required. The firemen could not use the vehicle normally used to transport this equipment, as it was already being used, and they instead carried it on another vehicle, which was not designed to carry this jack. When driving to the incident, the driver made an emergency stop, which caused the jack to shoot forward and injure a fireman.
The court decided that there was no breach of duty because of the need in a genuine emergency situation to effect a rescue and the jack was an essential piece of equipment needed to lift the lorry free of the trapped woman. This judgement echoed the view of Asquith LJ in an earlier case, Daborn v Bath Tramways (1946), who stated:
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