Wednesday, December 17th, 2025
Mark Andrew Card v Chief Constable, Police Service of Scotland – PN910/22
The All-Scotland Sheriff Personal Injury Court recently issued its Judgment in the case of Mark Andrew Card v Chief Constable, Police Service of Scotland.
The case concerned a serious and career-ending assault on the Pursuer, who was an operational police response officer, who had been tasked (along with others) to deal with an escaped suspect, who was armed with a knife. The factual and skilled evidence at Proof focused on the process of gathering and processing information and intelligence about the suspect and the incident by the police radio Control Room and, thereafter, the discretionary decision-making process of the supervising Initial Tactical Firearms Officer as to whether or not to deploy armed assistance.
Sheriff Nicol held that, due to negligent errors in the ingathering and recording of information in the Control Room – for which the Chief Constable was vicariously liable - the ITFC was not provided with all of the necessary information, as a result of which she decided not to deploy armed officers to assist the Pursuer and his colleagues. Had the correct information been provided, the Sheriff held that armed response ought to have been deployed, which would have avoided the need for the Pursuer to confront the suspect and sustain injury. The Pursuer’s decision to do so, however, attracted a discount for contributory negligence.
Graeme Middleton KC and Tom Brownlee represented the successful Pursuer and James Hastie represented the Defender.
A link to the judgement can be found here.
