A magisterial inquiry has found that British multimillionaire Paul Bailey was at fault for losing control of his rare million-dollar Porsche, and crashing into a crowd at a charity event in Malta.
Millionaire Paul Bailey was not a "professional driver’ and the crash was a result of excessive speed and a lack of handling techniques and corrective measures, it said. There were no mechanical failures with the car.
"While the driver is a collector of cars, he doesn't appear to have the necessary skills to drive such cars with such velocity," the inquiry says.
The event was a race and Mr. Bailey going at a high-velocity was to be expected—and that’s part of the problem.
The inquiry uncovered the extent to which there is no overseeing watchdog for certain public events held in private places. It recommends that the Civil Protection Department should be empowered to stop events if it feels safety measures are compromised.
The horrific incident (watch video above) last October left 23 people injured, three critically, including a six-year-old. One remains in hospital.
This situation is an unfortunate one. The event itself is a charity event and Mr. Bailey has used his ostentatious love of cars to help donate money to various causes.
He has raised thousands for charity by raffling off £1 tickets for people to win a ride in his McLaren P1.
“I live a very surreal life and being the first to own all three cars does not feel real,” Bailey had told the Daily Mail in an interview. “This is why I want to use and share the cars with enthusiasts. It is too early to say which is the best as they are all totally amazing. I will be able to better comment when I have driven them back to back on the race track.”
I don’t know much about Paul Bailey and for all I know he’s a really terrific guy but this is a perfect example, in my mind, of one of our world’s biggest flaws surrounding wealth and power. Paul Bailey shouldn’t be allowed to drive his super car without the safety of everyone else taken into account. Yes, this is Malta, but it could be anywhere in America, and often is when it comes to money over regulations and safety. Ask Flint, Michigan about that.
If you want you can see the crash, there’s limited video of it below the fold. It’s short and basically what you expect.