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Crown Immunity and James Wagg Another issue within the reforms is that of Crown Immunity. This means that the Crown currently cannot prosecute itself for a criminal act and only civil prosecutions can be attempted against a Crown body. One such body is the Ministry of Defence.In July 2000, a 19 year-old father named James Wagg was killed by an army vehicle whilst he was working the central reservation of the A1 near Grantham. James had recently passed tests to enable him to work safely on the roads but these could not help him when he was hit by an army LandRover, driven by a Sergeant on army duties. The driver was prosecuted as a civilian and pleaded guilty to driving with undue care and attention. For this he received a £300 fine and had 6 points added to his licence. James’ father, Stephen, felt that no notice had been taken of possible contributing factors to the accident and the responsibility of the MoD. The soldier had just flown back from the States having undergone training exercises there, followed by a four-hour coach journey when he got into the army vehicle to drive from Lincoln to Portsmouth. So Mark and Stephen went to the barracks at Lincoln to see if Stephen could get some answers and also to educate the MoD in the necessity of rest stops in long journeys.
Unfortunately the MoD seemed a little confused with the whole issue and said that they were not covered by Crown Immunity. Which is a little odd since the government have said that they plan to reform it. How can you reform something that doesn’t exist?
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