Key Facts
- •Joan Parker-Grennan played an online National Lottery game and believed she won £1 million due to a software error displaying incorrect animations.
- •The actual prize awarded by Camelot's system was £10.
- •The case concerned the incorporation of standard terms and conditions in an online contract, specifically in online gambling.
- •Camelot's terms and conditions were accessible via hyperlinks and drop-down menus.
- •The appeal raised issues of incorporation, enforceability under the UTCCR, and contractual construction.
Legal Principles
Incorporation of standard terms into a contract requires reasonable steps to give notice, not necessarily reading.
Chitty on Contracts (34th ed), 15-010; O’Brien v MGN Ltd [2001] EWCA Civ 1279
Onerous or unusual clauses require specific attention; consumer protection legislation renders unfair terms unenforceable.
Interfoto Picture Library Ltd v Stiletto Visual Programmes Ltd [1989] 1 QB 433; UTCCR 1999; Consumer Rights Act 2015
Click-wrap agreements can incorporate terms, but reasonableness of notice is key; insufficient time or excessive hyperlinks may invalidate.
Case judgment
UTCCR Reg 7(2) (contra proferentem rule): ambiguous terms interpreted favorably to the consumer; does not reorder contractual provisions.
UTCCR Reg 7(2); R (Doneghan and others) v Financial Services Compensation Scheme Ltd [2021] EWHC 760 (Admin)
Dispute resolution clauses can be unfair if creating a significant imbalance unless reasonableness is demonstrated.
UTCCR; Longley v PPB Entertainment Ltd [2022] EWHC 977(QB)
Outcomes
Appeal dismissed.
Even under the accepted terms, the appellant only won £10 due to the construction of the contract. The software error didn't affect the outcome; Camelot took reasonable steps to incorporate terms, and no clauses were unfair under the UTCCR.