British Crane Hire Corporation Ltd v Ipswich Plant Hire Ltd [1975] QB 303

Ipswich Plant Hire urgently hired a crane from British Crane Hire by telephone for work on marshy ground. Both parties were experienced in the plant-hire trade. The supplier later sent its usual conditions, but the hirer did not sign them. The crane sank twice. The first incident involved negligence by the supplier's driver; the second occurred despite following the site's instructions. The parties disputed responsibility for the recovery costs and whether the standard conditions allocated them to the hirer. The conditions were familiar in substance within their trade, although the written form followed the oral arrangement.

Were the usual conditions incorporated through shared trade understanding, and did their wording make the hirer responsible for each of the two recovery operations?

The Court of Appeal held that the usual hire conditions were incorporated through the parties' common understanding. Both businesses operated in the same trade and knew the substance of the standard conditions, including responsibility for recovering machinery that sank. The conclusion did not depend simply on a long course of dealings between these particular parties or on signing the later form.

The conditions nevertheless had to be construed to determine what they covered. They did not sufficiently protect the supplier against the consequences of its driver's negligence during the first incident. The hirer remained responsible for the later recovery within the relevant contractual allocation. Incorporation and the scope of any exclusion of negligence were therefore separate stages of the court's reasoning.

Standard terms may be incorporated where experienced parties in the same trade share an understanding that the usual conditions apply. Incorporation is not established merely because a form exists. Whether an incorporated condition covers a particular liability remains a separate question of construction and applicable statutory control.

British Crane Hire illustrates a route to incorporation based on shared trade understanding rather than signature or repeated dealings alone. Compare McCutcheon, where the inconsistent documentary practice did not establish agreement to the relevant terms. The case also separates incorporation from interpretation: a term may form part of the contract without excluding liability for a particular negligent act. Modern use must additionally consider the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 where its statutory requirements apply to the transaction.