A couple badly injured in a crash at the 2013 TT races are now claiming up to £4million in damages.

Company director Shaun Williams and his wife Helen, of Gloucestershire, were among a crowd of spectators watching the Senior race from the bottom of Bray Hill when a rider crashed, sending debris flying. Ten people were taken to hospital.

Race organisers the Auto-Cycle Union admitted liability ahead of a high court trial that is now expected to take place at the end of this year.

The high value claims were revealed in a judgment handed down this week that dealt with a delay in proceedings. Mr Williams’s total claim, including past and future loss of earnings, is said to range from £1.8m to £2.83m.

He sustained serious lower limb injuries said to have required a lengthy period of treatment.

Mrs Williams, who also suffered lower limb injuries, is claiming between £932,000 and £1.4million.

Both are said to have suffered psychological trauma and consequential losses including a substantial loss of earnings.

The hearing was due to take place between April and July this year but an application was made last month by the ACU for a delay in proceedings.

Advocate Vicki Unsworth said the pandemic had prevented face-to-face medical examinations from taking place.

She said the court must take account of the overriding objective to ensure fairness and justice to both parties, and would be assisted by ’focussed and particularised expert evidence, given the high value of a ’significantly larger’ claim.

She said a relatively short delay did not significantly prejudice the claimants, who had taken seven years to prosecute their case.

Acting for the Williams, advocate Winston Taylor said there had been a ’wilful failure’ to engage with the litigation process. He said that the explanation that the failure was caused by the pandemic seemed compelling but lost force when considered against his evidence that appointments were made and conducted during the same period.

Deemster Morris said that blaming the pandemic for failing to obtain face-to-face meetings with up to six medical experts ’does not really survive close scrutiny.’

However, he stressed the importance of both parties meeting on an equal footing in a ’complex and high value’ claim and said he was not prepared to conclude the delay ’was in any way intentional’.

In his judgment, the Deemster said: ’As Ms Unsworth points out, the claim has become more valuable as time has progressed â?¦ the court would rather not be deprived of the joint reports of the experts from both sides which will narrow down the issues and the areas of agreement and disagreement and probably save time, money and court resources.

’I hope that a wait of, perhaps, no more than an additional five months will not prove too stressful.

’I also bring into my consideration the amount of money said to be involved in this claim, the importance of the case not just to the claimants but also to the ACU and the complexity of the issues.’

A damages claim by a spectator injured in crash in the 2013 TT has been settled out of court.

Judith Clapton, from Norwich, had lodged a personal injuries claim for up to £100,000 against the Auto Cycle Union Ltd.