Contract; contents; terms; assent to express terms printed on ticket; interpretation of exclusion clauses; the 'four corners' rule.
Facts: West drove his car into the Sydney City Council's car park, obtaining a ticket from a machine at the entrance. When West returned to the car park, his car was gone. It turned out that, while West was away, another person had approached the car park attendant. This person told the attendant that he had lost his parking ticket and the attendant gave him a duplicate ticket. Without doing any checks, the attendant allowed this person to drive West's car away. The car having been lost, West sued the Sydney City Council for damages. The council denied liability on the basis that the ticket obtained by West when entering the car park contained an express statement saying: 'The council does not accept any responsibility for the loss or damage to any vehicle... however such loss, damage or injury may arise or be caused.'
Issue: Did the statement on the ticket limiting the Council's liability become a term of the contract?
Decision: The statement on the ticket had become a term of the contract.
Reason: This was a contract of bailment, whereby the Sydney City Council, for reward, promised to retain custody of West's car and release the car on presentation of the parking ticket and not otherwise. It is common knowledge that certain types of contract contain terms of a particular type, and it is widely expected that notice of these terms may be given on tickets or in notices. Failure to reject such terms amounts to acceptance of an offer to contract on those terms. The clause under review in this case excluded liability only for negligent acts done while carrying out the terms of this contract. It could not apply to acts which were neither authorised nor permitted by the contract. Allowing the thief to remove the car with a duplicate ticket was an unauthorised delivery of the car, not negligence in the performance of an authorised act. The exclusion clause did not cover this situation.
Note: In particular circumstances terms referred to on a ticket may not become part of the contract, such as if the tickets are only made available after the contract is created.