I would advise against any physical interactions and, as above, if the situation escalates you should report the matter to the police.
Any damage to property is potentially a criminal offence and you could threaten to report the perpetrator to the police. You could also seek to take a civil claim for damages to compensate you and put you back in the position you were before the damage as discussed above.
Any physical interactions could cause the situation to escalate. If you assault an individual, this could be reported to the police and it may be difficult to justify whether this response was reasonable in the circumstances and you could risk criminal sanctions.
If you give a child sweets for Halloween and they choke or have an allergic reaction, are you responsible?
This would of course depend on the circumstances. Assuming the sweets have not been interfered with, a claimant would have to prove that you have been negligent in order to hold you responsible for any injuries occurred as a result.
To establish negligence the court will look at whether you owed the claimant a duty of care, that there has been a breach of that duty, and this has caused the claimant some kind of loss. They must also be able to prove that the loss was foreseeable.
In practical terms it may be difficult to establish negligence if you simply gave a child a sweet and they choked as this could be down to any number of reasons – for example, the child’s own behaviour contributing to the incident.
The child would be assuming a certain level of risk and therefore, if any claims were brought, you would look to argue either a voluntary assumption of risk and/or contributory negligence as a defence.
However, the circumstances may be different if you gave a baby or toddler sweets as they may be less likely to detect certain dangers so extra care should be taken.
Can under 18s watch horror movies rated 18+?
Films that are classified by the British Board of Film Classification 18+ are only suitable for adults 18 and older. The same applies to any individual watching an 18+ rated film at the cinemas or those who choose to buy or rent copies of a film. The BBFC do not mention any specific rules about underage individuals watching such movies at home. The ratings are advisory on platforms such as DVD’s and streaming services. An underage person cannot actively purchase/rent/watch such a movie at the cinema.
The goods that I have purchased specifically for Halloween are faulty, can I return them?
If you have purchased an item and it turns out to be faulty, not fit for purpose or not as described, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 provides that you are able to reject such goods within the first 30 days after purchase.
If you notice any issues after 30 days since purchase, the onus will be on you to prove the above breaches and for the seller to prove that the issues raised are not an inherent problem or to rebut them.
The remedies available in such instances are a repair, replacement and finally a rejection of goods. After 6 months of purchase, both the onus of proving the fault/issues and proving that these are inherent problems lies with the consumer. The best practical advice would be to act promptly to avoid complication with the seller.
