Malta roads body immune from injured Scottish man's crash legal action

The crash happened in 2018

A roads authority in Malta has succeeded in a bid to stop it being involved in a court action brought by an Aberdeen man badly hurt in a crash.

Simon Morrison was seriously injured in the sightseeing bus accident in 2018 during a family holiday.

Compensation action was launched at the Court of Session against the insurers of the firm which operated the bus.

The insurers wanted Transport for Malta involved, but a judge upheld a plea based on sovereign immunity.

A 37-year-old Spanish woman and a 62-year-old man from Belgium died after the bus crashed into a tree in Zurrieq.

Middlesea Insurance argued Transport for Malta were responsible for roads on the island, so the authority should be forced to defend the action.

• Crash coach 'talking and winking'

• Three Britons injured in Malta bus crash

However, Transport for Malta's legal team argued that the authority could not be involved in the action as the organisation was carrying out strategically important tasks on behalf of the Maltese government.

The lawyers argued that because of its role, Transport for Malta should be entitled to protection from action through the law of state immunity.

A piece of legislation called the State Immunity Act 1978 allows foreign government or foreign government departments to be immune from legal action in UK courts.

In a judgment issued on Thursday, Lord Richardson upheld the submissions made to him by Transport for Malta's lawyers.

"In the circumstances, I sustain the third party's plea of jurisdiction based on sovereign immunity and dismiss that action."

Mr Morrison's lawyers are now hoping to recover damages from Middlesea in the Court of Session action.