R. v. G.R.A. Darling Q.C., Wreck Commissioner, Ex parte Swan Hunter Shipbuilders Ltd. and others - Q.B.D. (Crown Office List) (Popplewell J.) - 18 October 1991

Parties to Inquiry into loss of the Derbyshire ordered by Wreck Commissioner to bear their own costs of legal representation - Whether Commissioner’s decision unreasonable

On 9 September 1980 the vessel Derbyshire was lost with all hands. Between October 1987 and March 1988 a formal investigation was held by the Wreck Commissioner, Mr. G. Darling Q.C., into the causes of the loss. The hearing lasted 46 days. Various parties attended the hearing, including the Secretary of State for Transport, Swan Hunter Shipbuilders Ltd. (the company which built the vessel), Bibby Tankers Ltd. (the shipowners at the time of the loss), Lloyd’s Register of Shipping (responsible for the classification of a very large number of ships), and the dependants of the crew members who had lost their lives.