Court ruling

You may have heard that 6 years after the incident, a lot of sleepless nights, time spent in court and of course expense to defend the action, Lord Uist finally passed judgement on the “Munro case”. It has been a really tough time for Bill, his family and his business as this case has really swallowed up the time and money.

Lord Uist ruled in Scotmaps favour, having listened to the evidence of various surveyors, forestry personnel, the MSA and others who all took measurements of between 30 and 37 degrees meaning the 40 degrees that Bill had marked as a L4 in the notes was acceptable. The action centred around the severity of the corner and effectively boiled down to distinguishing whether it was a 40 degree corner as it was marked or a 70 degree corner as it was claimed.

The case has not yet been finalised as Mr Munro is considering an appeal, but this judgement has certainly eased the pressure and given some light at the end of the tunnel for Bill and indeed Scotmaps. Bill would like to take this opportunity to once again thank everyone in the sport for the support they have shown over the past 6 years and the continued notes of encouragement throughout this tough time.

Should this case have gone the other way then it would have had devastating circumstances for Scotmaps and Bill’s family but the true worry was what it would do to the sport he loves. This action could have set a precedent for all manner of cases from drivers and co-drivers taking action against each other, organisers being the target for crews and indeed all the way up the tree to the MSA and FIA.

How many drivers, co-drivers, volunteers, marshals and organisers would be so willing to help in that world of mistrust? It does not bear thinking about.

You can read the full judgement from Lord Uist here.