The Court held that a municipal council as occupier was negligent in failing to install a pedestrian gate in a boundary fence adjacent to cricket nets it had constructed, where it knew or ought to have known that hundreds of cricketers of varying ages would repeatedly climb or jump the fence at that location, creating an aggregate risk of injury that was not insignificant despite the low risk on any single occasion. The co-occupier cricket club was found not liable, as it had raised the need for a gate with the council and it was reasonable for a community club to leave the infrastructure decision with the council and not to direct adult players to use a distant gate. The defence of volenti non fit injuria failed because the plaintiff did not subjectively appreciate the full nature and extent of the risk of serious injury, but contributory negligence of 20% was applied for running at and vaulting the fence rather than crossing it carefully.
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