Obvious Risks: The Beautiful Game (Lillystone V Bradgate Educational Partnership)

Twenty-two years after the House of Lords in Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council [2003] UKHL 47 warned litigants that a duty to protect against obvious risks only exists in very limited circumstances, there are still some cases that try to push the boundaries of that decision. The recent decision of Mrs Justice Hill in Lillystone v Bradgate Educational Partnership [2025] EWHC 3341 (KB) is one of those, but it ultimately failed.

The claimant was playing football on the defendant's football pitch. He kicked the ball out of the pitch over both the pitch and the perimeter fences into the playing fields beyond. As the claimant climbed over the locked gate to get his ball back, he injured his hand. The claimant lost his claim, brought under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957, at a preliminary issue trial and his appeal was unsuccessful too.