His advocate made the comment as Deemster Alan Gough granted an application by the ACU to present further evidence in the form of photos and comments posted on Mr Mercer’s Facebook page.

The ACU contend that the posts suggest that Mr Mercer’s health isn’t as bad as had been made out.

It is seeking an interim ’declaration of jurisdiction’, a ruling on whether any future personal injuries compensation claim brought by Mr Mercer is heard here as the ACU wants or in England as Mr Mercer believes it should.

In a court hearing last month, the rider’s lawyer Damian Molyneux said his client would like to attend the proceedings but that ’unfortunately he can barely function on a daily basis, let alone travel’. Medical reports showed his client had 14 different serious injuries, including to his larynx, pelvis, spine, ribs and also a collapsed lung.

But Vicki Unsworth, representing the ACU, told a hearing this week that while it was not contested that Mr Mercer has serious injuries and has difficulty in travelling, this was very different from saying he could barely function on a day to day basis.

She sought for photos and comments from Mr Mercer’s Facebook page to be submitted as new evidence.

There was for example a post from March 4 noting he had just passed his driving test.

But Mr Molyneux said this was a dual control, specially adapted vehicle. ’It’s not like he’s driving up and down the motorway,’ he said. He said the ACU was ’seeking to paint Mr Mercer in a bad light’. He read an extract from a statement by the rider that he had always been optimistic but was frustrated he was not able to cycle, run and play with the kids like he once could. He dreamed that he was able to walk again.

Steve Mercer was critically injured during his 10th TT when he was among a group of red-flagged TT riders who were allowed to travel back to the Grandstand the ’wrong way’.

At Ballacrye his machine collided head-on with a course car travelling at high speed on its way to the accident which claimed the life of Manx TT star Dan Kneen.

Mrs Unsworth said it could be ’many months, if not years’ before the case could go to court.

Deemster Alan Gough accepted the Facebook evidence and also statements from Mr and Mrs Mercer that gave the background and context, suggesting these would give him a broader picture. He said he put on hold his written judgment when the skirmish came up.

by Adrian Darbyshire - Reporter