T.E.B. Travel Limited v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions
Decision date: 9 February 2010
Neutral citation: [2010] UKUT 30 (LC)
Overall AI summary confidence: high
Short overview
This short overview is intended to summarise the case, issues and outcome so far as they are supported by the judgment.
AI confidence in this short overview: high
This appeal fixed compensation for T.E.B. Travel Ltd for compulsory acquisition of its St Pancras forecourt premises, with most heads agreed and three disputed items determined. The tribunal awarded £66,417 for temporary loss of retail travel agency profits, £nil for temporary loss of foreign exchange profits, and £8,328 for directors' and staff time, bringing disputed awards to £74,745 and total interim compensation to £384,680. The decision is interim pending parties' response about further evidence on 2009 foreign‑exchange profits.
Ratio decidendi
This summary is intended to identify the ratio decidendi, meaning the legal reasons for deciding and the binding part of the decision.
AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: high
The tribunal applied the principle that a claimant must prove on the balance of probabilities that losses were caused by the acquisition and may use a reasonable industry proxy where direct data is lacking; here it accepted an adjusted ABTA membership decline as a proxy for hypothetical no‑scheme performance for retail travel profits but rejected the foreign‑exchange claim for failure to isolate passing‑trade margins and causal connection.
Obiter dicta
This summary is intended to identify obiter dicta, meaning observations made by the way that were not necessary to deciding the case and are not binding.
AI confidence in this obiter dicta summary: medium
The tribunal observed that it can be reasonable not to penalise a claimant for choosing a temporary relocation and lower fit‑out spending when that was sensible mitigation, and that owner‑managed companies can recover reasonable out‑of‑hours directors’ time spent necessarily to preserve the business where invoicing the company is not artificial.