OFFICIAL documents for a car rally where a crash killed three spectators have revealed the area where the victims were standing was “highly dangerous”.
A fatal accident inquiry heard that set-up plans for the Jim Clark Rally near Coldstream in the Borders had said the area around where the accident happened should be “kept clear”.
Photographer Iain Provan, 64, his partner Betty Allan, 63, and Len Stern, 71, died after a car lost control and left the road at the rally in May 2014.
The inquiry at Edinburgh Sheriff Court was shown the set-up plans for the Swinton stage, where those killed were standing in a field entrance near a humpbacked bridge. They stipulated: “The area prior to and after this bridge is highly dangerous and should be kept clear.
“Do not allow standing within three metres of the hedge. Definitely no photographers. Any incursions should be reported immediately and the stage stopped until rectified.”
The inquiry previously heard from spectator Donald Martin, 64, who was injured in the crash and said he thought the tape indicated a safe place to stand.
Witness Brian Bolton, 46, told the inquiry it was “ludicrous” that spectators were standing in what he said was a “no-go area”. Bolton said he had never seen anyone there in decades of attending the rally, because of the bridge, and that tape across the field entrance indicated that people should keep away.
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