Q1. Mary parked her car in a new car park, owned and operated by Queens Parking Ltd (‘Queens’). This was the first time that she had used a Queens car park. When she drove into the car park, she was required to take a ticket from a machine. On the back of the ticket were some terms, although no mention of this was made on the front of the ticket, on which had been printed the date and time that Mary entered.

Two of the terms on the back of the ticket read:

• Queens Parking Ltd shall not be liable for any loss or damage howsoever arising from the use of this car park;
• If the customer does not accept these terms, they may leave within 1 minute of entry without incurring a fee.

This is the actual size (size 6) that those same terms above were written on the ticket:

• Queens Parking Pty Ltd shall not be liable for any loss or damage howsoever arising from the use of this car park
• If the customer does not accept these terms, they may leave within 1 minute of entry without incurring a fee.

Unfortunately, one of the car park employees is part of a stolen car criminal gang, and he arranges for Mary’s car to be towed away by his criminal associates. This employee has previously been convicted of car theft crimes, and Queens were aware of this before hiring him. Mary has not since been able to recover her car.

Advise Mary:

1. whether any terms of the contract have been breached by Queens; and
2. whether the exclusion clause is incorporated into the contract; and
3. assuming the exclusion clause is part of the contract, does the exclusion clause cover the loss caused by the employee arranging for the car to be towed away?; and
4. assuming the exclusion clause covers the loss, will it prevent Mary from taking action for breach of terms discussed in (a)?