… What Price British Justice? …
British justice is the envy of the world, so it has been said. But if this is truly the case, then the rest of the world must be in a dire legal mess.
Recent experience has led me to believe that real ‘justice’ is dependent on circumstances. The poor have free access and the rich can buy as much as they want. For those in the middle it can be a truly harrowing experience. I will admit this is a very cynical personal view, but it is based on what happened to a friend. Not just a friend of mine, but a friend of British motor sport.
Eight years ago, a rally driver raised a case against Bill Sturrock of Scotmaps. The driver crashed his car on an event in northern Scotland and blamed Bill’s Route Notes for the damage to his car and subsequent post-accident personal stress. Using a ‘no win, no fee’ legal team, he raised an action which sought to sue for damages in the region of £2.5m. The Scotmaps insurance was limited to £1m. In other words, Bill had to fight it.
If he hadn’t and the insurance company had settled out of court then that decision would have created a dangerous precedent. There was another issue at stake too. Bill’s integrity. He reckoned his Notes were fair and correct and the rest of the drivers on that day agreed.
So he went to court to defend the action. If he had lost the case, it would have had a considerable impact right across all forms of motorised sport throughout the UK. It would have established a precedent whereby officials, organisers, promoters and competitors would have been at the mercy of ‘compensation culture’.
Not just to those directly involved, but to those indirectly involved. Say for instance an amateur service crew ‘mechanic’ had forgotten to tighten the wheel nuts, or not tightened them to the correct torque setting, and a wheel had come off causing the car to have an accident. Now whilst the driver and co-driver may have been more understanding, would their family at home, parents, partners or children? That was the issue at stake here, a wider responsibility. Not just to those who chose to take part or volunteer at events, but to those ‘indirectly’ affected. It would have done the sport lasting damage, and perhaps even stopped many forms of amateur motor sport completely.
After two years of costly proceedings, Bill won the initial court case. An appeal was mounted by the pursuer three years ago, and Bill won that too last year at even more expense. He was proved to be innocent of all charges twice, but it has cost him dear.
The Court then had to determine what level of costs should be awarded to Scotmaps. As a matter of rule, the Court will not re-imburse the defendant for the full cost of his/her defence, even when declared innocent. The court awarded a sum that came nowhere near the total spent.
I have no idea why that is, but it’s on that point that I question the ‘fairness’ of British justice. The innocent party may well walk away with his reputation intact and head held high, but at what cost? In this case, bankruptcy was looking like an attractive option. However, to go down that route would have made future work in this field impossible
An action could have been raised against the pursuer for costs, but apparently he had no assets, and Bill was advised against taking even more expensive legal action to claim his costs. This left Bill with an outstanding SIX figure bill and a house and business premises mortgaged to the hilt and beyond.
Friends and colleagues thought this cruel and unfair and have mounted a campaign to help Bill.
Its called ‘RallySOS’ and it needs our help. Please donate whatever you can afford. We need to raise at least £37,000 pretty damn quickly to save the family home from possession by the bank and then as much as we can after that to get him out of trouble.
A Bank account has been set up in the name of ‘RallySOS’ in the Royal Bank of Scotland, Main Street, Cleland in Lanarkshire. The Sort Code is: 83 17 09 and the a/c number is: 00191493. Any money raised will be going straight to his creditors, and not to Bill. There is now a website with more information at:
www.rallysos.co.uk
Given his demeanour as he attends events still providing his much valued Route Note service, few would believe the stress and strain that Bill and his family have been under this past nine years. But desperate times require desperate measures and in such cases pride is no longer something that Bill can afford.
We owe him big time, and so does the sport. Please give what you can.
**