ammo Wrote:ACU Handbook 2006, National Sporting Code Page 21, 6.02.1

Duties of the Clerk of the Course:-

1. To ensure that the circuit, track, course or terrain is in good order and that all legal requirements have been met and all conditions as may be laid down by the Permit Issuing Authority are complied with.

So its the Clerk of the Course's responsibility.

Point taken, thanks for clarifying that. In this context I guess we are looking at Health & Safety legislation in which case a company (the MMCC as organisers) bears a duty of care to the public among others. The question is, did they discharge that duty of care to the extent that is "reasonable"? We fall over ourselves in the name of safety where the riders and marshals are concerned and it's too easy to forget about the people round the outside who may be affected by the activities associated with the races.

So did the MMCC take "reasonable care" with their road closure precautions? We here all know about signs and ropes, but we know the races and the corner. It is a cornerstone of the legislation that it applies equally to the old hand and the first-timer who doesn't know the ropes (so to speak). So are rope barriers enough? Should high visibility devices like warning triangles have been in place beforehand? Is rope the right medium for closing the road given the (proven) side effects of somebody not seeing it? Would only prominent flashing warning chevrons right across the road backed by foam barriers be "reasonable"?

On this occasion I am glad the MMCC has a prominent legal brain at its head. I'm all for safety but the TT and MGP are increasingly out of place in this grey, nannying society. We should not underestimate the threat to the events we love from legislation which was intended to protect factory workers but which is increasingly being applied to stop anyone doing anything.