The National Court is the UK Disciplinary, Investigatory and Appeal Court as required by the Statutes of the FIA and the International Sporting Code. The Court is independent of Motorsport UK and administered by an external lawyer and the judges are drawn from a panel of experienced motorsport lawyers and suitably qualified motorsport professionals

Sitting on 15th May Case No. J2025 / 09 David Munro( Chair), David Scott, Kevin Witton

Mr Nick Bamber and Ms Sian Woolley appeared on behalf of Motorsport UK Mr Daniel Harper appears before the Court and is represented by his solicitor, Mr I. B. Deering. Mr Martin Cressey appeared by way of a video link

APPEAL – Daniel Harper

1. The National Court has considered a decision of the Stewards of the Mull Rally, which event was held between 11th and 13th October 2024.

2. This matter came before the Court by way of an appeal lodged by two competitors, namely, Daniel Harper and Martin Cressey, the crew of car no. 4 in the event, and by virtue of an order for an inquiry made by Motorsport UK under National Competition Rules Chapter 2, Appendix 7, Article 9.1.

3. Both cases involved the same issues and were therefore heard together.

4. The Appeal was in relation to the decision of the Stewards of the Meeting following a hearing on 12th March 2025, on the basis that a gross miscarriage of justice had occurred, the principal ground of appeal being that the Stewards, in rejecting the appeal, had failed to address the argument that the Clerk of the Course, Richard Crozier, had decided to remove the time penalties applying to car no. 2, which had arrived at Time Control 6B some 23 minutes late. The time penalty should have been 3 minutes 50 seconds.

5. It was argued that the Clerk of the Course was bound by event Supplementary Regulation 8.8( J) to impose the time penalty and that there was no power in the regulations to allow any discretion. In short, his decision to waive the penalty was Ultra Vires.

6. Leave to appeal to this Court had been granted under General Regulations 2024 C. 7.1.3( a).

7. The appeal was not challenged by Motorsport UK, who had directed the Court to inquire into the Clerk’ s decision, as it appeared to be in breach of the Supplementary Regulations of the event and the powers conferred under the then General Regulations.

8. The Court has considered a written statement recently made by Mr Crozier, in which he disputed having made the decision, but in all previous documentation it had been accepted that he had in fact made that decision.

9. It is self-evident that he did not have the power to do so by virtue of either the Supplementary Regulations or the General Regulations then in force. Accordingly, the Court finds that:

• The decision to waive the time penalty applied to car no. 2 was outside the power of the Clerk of the Course.

• The Stewards erred in their findings on 12th March 2025 and should have allowed that appeal.

• That decision must now be set aside, and the results of the Mull Rally 2024 must be corrected and republished without further delay to include the time penalty incurred by car no. 2.

10. The appeal therefore succeeds, and the appeal fee should be returned.

11. In a separate matter, but which is related to the present appeal, the appeal fees paid by Messrs Ford and Shankes, crew no. 5, should also be returned.

David Munro, Chair 15th May 2025

PROVIDING SUPPORT AND ASSISTANCE TO PROJECTS THAT ENSURE A SAFER SPORT, ENABLING THE UK MOTORSPORT COMMUNITY TO UNDERTAKE THEIR TASKS SAFELY AND ENCOURAGING HIGH STANDARDS WITH THE SPORT’ S VOLUNTEERS.

britishmotorsporttrust. org

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