THE case belonged to an era when Southampton as the principal gateway to the Empire and New World had several consulates, but the issue on which a jury deliberated fell well short of a major diplomatic drama. It involved strawberries!
It was mid-summer 1909 when Frederick Aplin, a coal merchant's agent for a London firm, had mounted his bike outside the Free Library in London Road and was riding between the tramlines and the kerb on his round to find potential customers.
Ahead of him was Pierre Lacase, an assistant with the French consul. He had a basket full of strawberries on his handlebars which caused him to ride with his knees rather wide. He was steering with his right hand and plucking the fruit from the bag with the other.
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Aplin rang his bell to signal his intention to overtake, but in swerving to avoid him, Lacase's bike turned broadside and he struck his front wheel. The force of the collision sent Aplin crashing to the ground, his left elbow and two bones in his left leg were broken. He was detained in hospital for five weeks, undergoing three operations on his arm which was sewn up with wire, and two on his leg.
A year later when he sued the Frenchman for damages in a civil action brought at Hampshire Assizes his left knee was still troubling him. "And it will probably be stiff for the rest of his life, " his lawyer Thornton Lawes informed jurors.
Lacase, however, escaped injury, having slipped off his seat to stand on his feet.
And that was it, as far as he was concerned, with Lawes alleging: "He never appeared to be much interested in the matter and never made any overtures or inquiries, although his chief did call and offered his sorrow and regret."
Aplin, who had been working for the company for 12 months and covered about 30 miles a day, said the impact had left him in considerable pain and had badly affected his livelihood.
"I was left in great agony because of the accident," the former Channel Islands hotelier told jurors of his medical expenses which included paying for a nurse to help massage his troublesome knee. "I am unable to use my bicycle any more. I have had to hire a conveyance and travel by train to do my job. I estimate I have lost £354 since the accident."
Denying negligence, Lacase delivered his evidence with animated and dramatic gestures and intonation. A member of the French Touring Club, he had ridden bikes for 14 years without mishap, and claimed he was riding slowly with both hands on the handlebars when something touched his back wheel. "That shock caused me to swerve and Mr Aplin shouting 'Look out' struck my back wheel."
As for the suggestion he had been inconsiderate toward Aplin, he insisted: "I was very affected at the accident and offered assistance but it was refused. I went for the police at the Bargate. Yes, I was carrying 4lbs of strawberries but I was not eating them. I did not go to see him at the hospital as I thought it was proof that I was guilty but my chief did."
Summing up the case, Mr Justice Bucknill told jurors they had to consider whether Aplin, exercising ordinary skill and care, could have avoided the collision, even supposing that Lacase had been guilty of negligence.
Following a brief retirement, jurors found in Aplin's favour for which he was awarded £75 damages with costs.
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