[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Livia

With respect, Joey... if your dog goes on to private land you are liable because your dog should be under your control. The same with minor children... they should be under the control of their parents. Farms are dangerous places with lots of heavy machinery, it's not all pastoral ideal, as you know. Allowing a child free-reign to play on farm land is like allowing your child to play on a building site, both places have heavy machinery.

General company policy would only apply here if it was policy on that farm, which it obviously was not. That is the fault of the owner, so if their child was killed they would bear some of the responsibility. There are plenty of cases of people being killed on farms by machinery operated by other people who are sober. Like, I said, farms are dangerous places.

If you're going to change the law so that people cannot be drunk in charge on private land, are we going to get to the point where people not being able to drink in their own garden and do something dangerous? Light a barbecue or a bonfire, for instance?

It's a very sad case, but the parents must bear some of the responsibility for letting such a young child play on the farm's land.

The law's quite clear, my learned friend. Otherwise the man involved would be in jail.

This man was not sober, and he was in charge of a very dangerous piece of equipment at work.. where does the law stand on that?