Bristol Airport v Powdrill, 1990 BCLC 585, 1990 Ch 744, Court of Appeal
Citation:Bristol Airport v Powdrill, 1990 BCLC 585, 1990 Ch 744, Court of Appeal
Rule of thumb:If a plane company does not pay a bill for airport fees or repair of the plane or other vehicle, is the airport or garage entitled to keep the plane or vehicle until the fee is paid? Yes, as a general rule, however, if they do not get a Court order declaring this, an exception to this general rule is that if the organisation goes into administration, they may have to return the plane to the administrator without getting the bill paid & join the list of other unsecured creditors owed money.
Judgment:
The basic facts of this case were that an airline was in financial difficulty and owed debts to an airport for landing fees and another company for plane fuel fees. In this case 2 airports, Bristol Airport and Birmingham Airport, were owed fees , and they held 2 of the company’s planes under lien as per their statutory right. Bristol Airport took the extra step of having their statutory lien right to keep the plane under their possession until the bill was paid confirmed by the Court. Birmingham Airport parked a lorry laden with concrete in front of the plane they held to prevent it from being flown away rather than get a Court order confirming their right of lien. The airline company then went into liquidation however and the insolvency practitioner sought both planes back from the airports. The Court held that as Birmingham Airport had its right of lien confirmed then this plane could not pass to the insolvency practitioner, but as Birmingham Airport had not had their lien confirmed then Birmingham Airport had to move the cement lorry from in front of the plane and give it back to the insolvency practitioner, ‘I agree that this appeal should be dismissed for the reasons provided by Sir Lord Browne Wilkinson V-C. However, I feel abound to add that I have misgivings over how our decision may affect other cases in future. Take the case of a road haulage company in respect of which an administration order is made. At the time one of its lorries has just been repaired by a garage owner, at a cost of £1,000, and is ready for collection on payment of the bill. The company’s driver arrives to take the lorry away, but is refused delivery until the bill is paid... But he may incur damages if he refuses delivery to the administrator until the bill is paid... I hope that it will indeed prove possible for garage owners or airport managers to obtain leave of Court promptly, and within a matter of hours... To obtain legal advice and assistance ... is bound to be expensive... If not, the best advice that his solicitor could give him would be to forget his lien and deliver the lorry up forthwith...’ Staughton J
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