TT organisers respond to rider's widow

The widow of a rider killed during last year's Senior TT has hit out at the way she and her family were treated in the wake of her husband's death.

Sarah Ramsbotham says they were kept in the dark over what had happened, were made to wait for about five hours before they could go and see him at the hospital, and were told they would have to pay for their own flights back to England.

Marc Ramsbotham's crash at the 26th Milestone also claimed the lives of two spectators, and the Isle of Man's Coroner of Inquests, Michael Moyle, this afternoon recorded misadventure verdicts on all three deaths. In his summing up Mr Moyle referred to a catalogue of disasters involving Marshals, the Manx Motorcycle Club and the Department of Transport, and said the two spectators would still be alive had they not been allowed in a prohibited area.

Mrs Ramsbotham says things have to change in the future (audio file attached):

Sarah Ramsbotham was speaking to Tim Glover, on Mandate PM.

Manx Radio received he following statement from the current organising committee for the TT, in response to the interview with Sarah Ramsbotham:

'Everyone associated with the running of the TT is deeply sympathetic to Sarah at this difficult time, and we will talk to her privately at the earliest opportunity to discuss all her comments and clear up any misunderstanding, as we take her views on her experience really seriously.

'The Family Liaison Team worked closely with the Ramsbotham family as soon as the incident occurred and this included booking and paying for flights which ultimately were not taken up. We would never have asked Sarah to pay her own travel from the Island. In addition, Wynne Evans and Sergeant Gary Hardman were in touch regularly with the family after the accident.

'It seems that there is also some confusion as to what heppened n the hours immediately after the accident, but the organisers followed standard practice in incidents of this nature and everything was done to try and easy the family's grief. Again we will talk privately to Sarah to explain what occurred, and why, in the immediate aftermath of the incident, to clear up any misunderstanding.