Caution over rally crash

A car driven by Carlos Sainz came off the track

Organisers of the Welsh stage of a World Rally Championship have been cautioned for breaching safety rules after 13 people were injured in a crash.

International Motor Sports Ltd has also agreed to pay the £20,000 costs of the investigation following the incident in the Brechfa Forest in November 2001.

A Ford Focus car driven by former world champion Carlos Sainz came off the track on a bend injuring 13 spectators and marshals.

Carmarthenshire Council initially decided to prosecute but the company has now accepted a formal caution instead.

IMS deeply regrets the accident and we have been working extremely hard to ensure that such an incident does not happen again Chief executive Andrew Coe

A significant factor in the authority's decision to issue a caution was measures to tighten up procedures and minimise the risk of it happening again had already been put in place.

Head of Public Protection Philip Davies said: "This was a serious incident which was investigated thoroughly by our officers.

"The outcome is that standards of health and safety will be raised at future events."

New measures include a dedicated spectator safety officer, ticket only entry, registered marshals, designated spectator viewing areas, forest walkways and risk assessment of viewing areas.

The rally will return to Carmarthenshire this autumn.

IMS Ltd chief executive Andrew Coe said: "IMS deeply regrets the accident that occurred in 2001 and we have been working extremely hard to ensure that such an incident does not happen again.

"Immediately following the incident we instituted a full and thorough investigation and committed to improve spectator facilities for the 2002 event."

He said there would be further improvement to spectator facilities for this year's event.