Race organisers could face claims

news source : Iomtoday

RACE organisers could be facing claims over two horrific accidents that took place on the TT course and the Billown circuit within 24 hours of each other last year.

The widow of Marc Ramsbotham says she is considering taking legal action over the horrific crash at the 26th Milestone during the 2007 Senior Race which claimed the life of her husband and two spectators.

And a father is fighting for compensation more than a year after he was badly injured while watching the post-TT racing on the Billown circuit.

Coroner Michael Moyle launched a stinging attack on ‘wholesale failings’ of TT race management and safety at the inquest into the deaths of Norfolk road racer Mr Ramsbotham, 34, and spectators Dean Jacob, 33, and Gregory John Kenzig, 52.

Now Mrs Ramsbotham’s widow Sarah said she had approached a solicitor over the possibility of taking legal action.

But speaking from her home in Wymondham, she insisted: ‘I am thinking about it but I have not decided anything yet. I’m take legal advice and I’m looking at what the options are.’

In a separate move, a spectator badly injured at the Steam Packet race on the Billown circuit, the day after the 26th Milestone tragedy, says he is seeking compensation from the race organisers.

Andy Green, 42, of Findern, in Derbyshire, was a spectator at Cross Four Ways when competitor Carl Roberts hit a kerb and ploughed into him in the first race of the day.

The force of the accident was so great that Mr Green’s leg snapped above the ankle, leaving bones protruding from his skin.

He had to be airlifted to Noble’s Hospital and was then transferred by air ambulance to Derbyshire Royal Infirmary where he spent the next eight to nine weeks.

He had to have a metal brace fitted to his leg and was unable to return to work for seven months.

‘I was standing by the burger van videoing the racing when this bike flew towards us at high speed and crashed straight into my leg. It broke my tibia and fibia, smashed my ankle and dislocated my little finger,’ he said.

‘I can’t begin to explain the pain but the bones in my left leg came out of the skin and stuck into the ground.’

Next month, more than a year after the accident happened, he will return to the hospital in Derby to have his leg broken again and re-set.

Following the accident, Mr Green contacted a local solicitor to help with a claim for compensation.

But he subsequently learned that ‘no win, no fee’ compensation claims are not recognised in the Isle of Man and he is now in contact with an Island advocate.

Three other spectators together with the rider had to be airlifted to Noble’s following the accident but maintenance engineer Mr Green said it was fortunate that those standing next to him were not more seriously injured.

Competitor Carl Roberts and the other three spectators were released from hospital later that evening.

Mr Green – who has a wife, Hayley, 41, and two sons, Stephen, 22, and Kevin, 19 – was off work for seven months after the accident.

‘We were given no indication of the dangers of standing where we did, next to the road,’ he said.

‘But the race organisers refuse to recognise our case because the Isle of Man is run on a different set of laws to the UK. I’ve lost £8,000 to £9,000 minimum in lost earnings. We are not asking for the earth, just the money that we have lost.’

Phil Edge, press officer for the Southern 100 which ran the Steam Packet race on the Billown Circuit last year, said he was unable to comment as the matter was in the hands of the lawyers and the insurance company.

Tourism and Leisure Minister Adrian Earnshaw said: ‘Since the incident in 2007 we have listened to the comments made by the chief coroner in his report and a lot of hard work has gone into implementing the recommended changes, particularly with regard to spectating at the TT.’

For Personal Injury Claim Compensation contact http://www.osbornes-injury-lawyers.co.uk