JUDGMENT

Edgar Joseph Jr. SCJ:

In this road accident case, the rival versions as to the circumstances of the accident were these: The plaintiff's case was that she had suffered serious personal injuries as a direct result of the negligence of the first defendant (the bus driver) in the driving of bus No. PH 5264, (the bus) as agent or servant of the third defendant, when she was about to alight from it and before she could safely do so, a short distance before the Hill Railway Station Bus Stop in George Town, Penang.

It was also the case for the plaintiff that the second defendant, a conductor (the conductor) on the bus and an agent or servant of the third defendant, was also negligent, in that he had failed to station himself at the door of the bus, when the bus was in the vicinity of a bus stop, so as to ensure that passengers, in particular, the plaintiff, did not alight until the bus had come to a stop and, generally, in failing to take such steps as may have been necessary to ensure the safety of the passengers, in particular the plaintiff.

The plaintiff herself, a girl, 19 years of age at the time of the accident, was unable, by reason of the effect of the injuries she had sustained, to testify at the trial but there was called on her behalf one - Lim Mun Leong (PW. 3), a resident of Penang Hill, 46 years of age at the time of the accident, who claimed that he was an eye witness to the accident.

In particular, he claimed that at the material time, he was walking to the city to purchase provisions, keeping to the right hand side of the road, as one faces the city, when he saw the bus coming towards him in the opposite direction. He added that the bus kept close to its nearside edge of the road - about two to three feet - as it approached him and he then stepped onto the grass verge and stood there. The bus too stopped at that point some three to four feet from him. He had also said that when a passenger had alighted from the bus, it started to move again and that as the bus was moving another passenger (later identified as the plaintiff) fell out of the open door of the bus onto the road. Asked by Counsel for the plaintiff, where the plaintiff was at the time the first passenger had alighted, he replied that the plaintiff was walking down the steps of the bus. He agreed with Counsel's suggestion that the plaintiff was alighting from the bus when the bus started to move.

He went on to say that the bus proceeded for a distance of over twenty feet after the plaintiff fell out of the bus before pulling up. The driver of a passing car picked up the plaintiff and took her to hospital. The witness claimed that he had assisted the driver in carrying the plaintiff into the car which he described as a saloon car with no taxi plate on it.

Asked by Counsel for the plaintiff, about the practice of the third defendant's buses as to when they would stop to allow passengers to alight, the witness said that based on his personal experience, they would stop when a passenger sounded the bell, even though there might have been no bus stop sign at the place in question.

Asked further by Counsel, if, at the material time, there was any bus stop along the road shown in the sketch (p. 3 AB), he replied that there was no bus stop until the Hill Railway Station.

Under Cross-examination by Counsel for the defendants, he said that at the time the passenger concerned had alighted, the bus started to move and that at that point of time the plaintiff was on the steps stepping down to alight.

It was put to him that he was never at the scene of the accident, but the witness maintained that he was standing there. He added that he was employed as a caretaker at a flower nursery on Penang Hill and he named his employer.

There was also called in support of the Plaintiff's case, the Investigating Officer Din bin Desa (PW.2) who had long since retired. He testified that at the material time he was attached to the traffic section of the Patani Road Police Station when, at