Tesco v Constain - Thomson Reuters

[1961] 1 Q.B. 31 Page 21960 WL 18924 (CA), [1960] 3 All E.R. 332, [1960] 3 W.L.R. 504, (1960) 104 S.J. 704(Cite as: [1961] 1 Q.B. 31)APPEAL from Slade J.The following facts are taken substantially from the judgment of Slade J.: Theplaintiffs, Miss Elsie Ingram, Miss Hilda Ingram and Mrs. Mary Ann Maud Badger,advertised their Renault Dauphine motor-car, registration number ULJ 101, forsale in the issue of the "Bournemouth Echo" for August 2, 1957, in these terms:"1957 Dauphine, 3,800 miles, sky blue, 725 o.n.o. Park-stone4084." As a result of that advertisement they received two inquiries. One wasfrom a man named Gray, who, having made a telephone call to the plaintiffs, wasno longer interested. The other was from a swindler who called himselfHutchinson. He telephoned on August 3, 1957, the Saturday before the August BankHoliday. He spoke to Miss Elsie Ingram, said that he had seen the advertisementand would like to come and see the car. He gave the name of Hutchinson over thetelephone, and said that he was staying for the week-end at the Savoy Hotel,Bournemouth. Miss Elsie Ingram told him that she had received another inquiry(the one from the man Gray) whom she thought might come and see the car, andasked whether she could telephone Hutchinson back. Later she telephoned the SavoyHotel, Bournemouth, asked for Hutchinson and spoke to "the rogue Hutchinson."About 2.15 p.m. on August 3 the rogue Hutchinson called at the house where theplaintiffs were living. He was admitted by Miss Hilda Ingram; he told her he wasHutchinson, and Miss *33 Hilda Ingram accordingly introduced him to her sisterMiss Elsie Ingram as Hutchinson. He looked at the car, and asked Miss ElsieIngram to take him for a run in it, and she did so. During the run he was verytalkative. He told her that he came from Surrey. He talked about his family, whohe said were then in Cornwall, and he said that his home was at Caterham. At thattime he had given no further information, nor had he even given his initials; hewas merely Hutchinson.After the drive they came back to the house and discussed the sale of the car.Hutchinson offered Miss Elsie Ingram, who conducted the negotiations for theplaintiffs, 700 and she refused. After some bargaining heoffered 717, which she said she was prepared to accept. Therogue then pulled out a cheque book and she immediately realised that he wasproposing to pay 717 by cheque. She told him that she wouldnot in any circumstances accept a cheque, and that she was only willing to sellthe car for cash. She told him that so far as she was concerned the deal wasfinished. She said that she was not prepared to accept a cheque. She had expectedcash, and she made as though to walk out of the room.The rogue started to talk and try to convince her that he was a most reputableperson, and then for the first time he gave his initials. He said that he was aP. G. M. Hutchinson. He said that he had business interests in Guildford, andthat he lived at Stanstead House, Stanstead Road, Caterham.Miss Hilda Ingram, who had been in the room, slipped out of the room and aftera short time returned. She had gone to the Parkstone post office, which was onlyabout two minutes away from the plaintiffs' house, and had looked in the maintelephone directory covering the district of Caterham. In that directory she hadseen the entry "Hutchinson, P. G. M., Stanstead House, Stanstead Road, Caterham4665," and she believed that that was the man who, at that moment, was with hersister in their house. On her return to the house she told her sister, Miss ElsieIngram, who was still discussing the proposed sale, that she had checked with thetelephone directory at the post office and that there was such a person as P. G.M. Hutchinson living at Stanstead House, Stanstead Road, Caterham. Havingreceived that information, the two sisters decided that they would let the roguehave the car in exchange for the cheque. The decision was reached because theybelieved that the rogue was the person he said he was. When he gave the cheque,the rogue wrote on the *34 back "P. G. M. Hutchinson, Stanstead House, StansteadRoad, Caterham."The rogue was not P. G. M. Hutchinson of Stanstead House, Stanstead Road,Caterham, who had nothing to do with the transaction in question and knew none ofthe parties connected with it. This gentleman banked with a branch of Lloyds BankLtd. in London. The rogue "Hutchinson" opened an account on August 2, 1957, at abranch of the Westminster Bank Ltd. in Guildford with a deposit of10, acquired a cheque book from which he drew cheques on thisCopr. © West 2004 No Claim to Orig. Govt. Works