Driver at rally ‘tried to help spectators’

A rally co-driver tried to give medical aid to spectators at the scene of a fatal crash, an inquiry has heard.

Melanie Holmes, 28, was in a car following the one involved in an accident whichclaimedthreelivesat the Jim Clark Rally in 2014. Ms Holmes, from Gloucestershire, told a Fatal Accident Inquiry at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday: “I just went on autopilot. I shouted ‘Stop, stop,stop’ and told him (the driver) to go on and get to the nearest radio point.”

Ms Holmes said that when she got to the scene of the accident there were four people on the ground – a woman who was receiving treatment but she felt was dead; an elderly man with no apparent injuries, whom she thought was “the one with a chance”; a man in his seventies, who was unresponsive, and another man in a hi-vis green bib.

The accident happened on the second run of the Jim Clark Memorial Rally on 31 May, 2014.

The court heard that between the first and second stage any cars with problems would have had them fixed before starting again. Ms Holmes said that when a doctor arrived they continued to work on the people, but he eventually said: “No more”.