I was chatting with a few mates, discussing the legend Shakey Byrne. We saw him on the news earlier this year in court against MSV following his big crash at Snetterton circuit in 2018. What happened on this?
Shakey is a bit of a legend, and I have enjoyed watching him race in BSB for many years. For this reason, it is a case I have been following closely.
The judgment hasn’t yet been released so I may do a follow-up piece, but first, a bit of a procedural lesson about the law. Shakey’s accident was in 2018. The law states you have three years to bring a personal injury claim. This is the ‘normal’ limitation date, and it varies; if, for example, you have an accident in the waters off the coast of England or at an airport, it could be as short as two years.
It appears his lawyers therefore issued court proceedings, in the High Court, before the third anniversary of his accident, i.e., by November 2021. Lawyers like to use the full three years to gather evidence of injuries but also investigate blame. In this case, it appears Shakey is blaming the crash barrier which was known as a ‘Type D additional protective device (APD).’ This consisted of tyres bolted together and was the minimum level of protection available at a race circuit. You will have seen these types of devices all over the world; they are used in F1 circuits and so on.
It appears Shakey’s case is that a ‘Type A’ device (an air-filled barrier which acts as a shock absorber) was the correct form of protection to be placed at Palmer Corner, and it also appears elsewhere on the track. I don’t think he is blaming the bike or race circuit in any other way (but I await a copy of the final judgment before finalising my legal breakdown).
His trial was heard in May 2024. This is also quite normal; even if you issue court proceedings by November 2021 , the law states you have four months to formally ‘serve’ them on the other side, and if this was done by March 2022, having a trial some 26 months later is also quite normal. The wheels of justice really do turn slowly!
His Honour Judge Peter Blair KC heard the trial. He is also the Recorder of Bristol and a senior and experienced judge. Again, it is normal for a written judgement to be given some months after the trial, as the judge needs time to write it up, agree it with the barristers presenting the case, and then publish it. It will be published in the public domain, so I will write a follow-up once we know the full facts and outcome of the case.
I saw some articles in the news jumping on the fact Shakey Byrne wanted £1 million; this might be a bit of a red herring, as any court papers must plead the likely value. The lawyers need to give it a bracket, i.e., this is a case worth £50,000 to £100,000, or in excess of £200,000 or £1 million; therefore, this is unlikely to be a pleading rather a general statement as to the likely value of the claim. Watch this space.
Gavin Grewal
Fast Bikes Mag – December 2024
