ABSTRACT
An interesting case involving the possible liability of oil companies for pollution caused by lead in petrol was:
The Court of Appeal upheld a decision to strike out an action in nuisance and negligence against BP Oil Ltd and Shell UK which alleged that children suffered injury as a consequence of the lead content of petrol. Responding to the argument that the oil companies could not be liable in negligence because they had complied with the relevant regulations, Megaw LJ said:
Manufacturers or suppliers of petrol could not be negligent in a matter such as this if the limit to which they adhered was a limit which they were entitled reasonably to believe to be consistent with the public interest. There is no suggestion that there was available to either of the defendants at any relevant time any relevant information which they failed properly to disclose or which would not have been available to the Secretary of State and his advisers in carrying out the task imposed on him by Parliament and in reaching his decision.
