Former rally champion loses £2m claim appeal

A FORMER champion rally driver has lost an appeal in a £2 million damages claim after blaming inaccurate route notes when he crashed at a bend during an event.

A judge rejected Raymond Munro’s claim in 2010 after stating he was satisfied there was no error in the description of the bend in the notes for the Speyside Stages rally six years earlier.

However, after Lord Uist ruled against Mr Munro in his action against the compiler of the notes, William Sturrock, he challenged the decision before three judges at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

Lord Hardie, sitting with Lady Paton and Lord Emslie, yesterday refused the appeal and said Lord Uist was “plainly right”.

Mr Munro, of Smithton in Inverness, crashed four miles into the course of the rally in his modified £180,000 Subaru Impreza after losing control of the vehicle at a corner in Clashindarroch Forest.

“The car flipped and rolled over and ended up on its driver’s side,” he said.

He was not injured, but was said to have been affected mentally and was unable to motivate himself after the crash.

Before the accident, he had been a successful businessman in vehicle hire and property development.

He maintained in the action that he had approached the bend at an appropriate speed and line, in terms of the notes provided for the course.

The Scottish champion claimed that it was much more acutely angled than the 40 degrees described and ought to have been classified as a bend with a 70-degree angle.

He said that he would have gone into the bend at least 30mph to 40mph slower and two or three gears lower if it had been described as 70 degrees.

Mr Munro said he stopped rallying a few months after the crash. He added: “I no longer had any confidence in the notes provided.”