The owners of a Ceredigion race track have been fined £30,000 after a 25-year-old racing enthusiast died in a crash.

Amateur racer Joshua Pillinger died when his Mazda MX5 crashed on a track at Dolebolion in Pontrhydfendigaid, near Tregaron.

Mid Wales Activity Ltd admitted breaching health and safety regulations by failing to ensure the safety of non-employees.

Craig Jones, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court this week that the company operated an unlicensed track at Dolebolion, and hired it out to amateur racers.

Martyn John Jones, a director of the company, agreed to hire the track to Pum Racing, a group of off-road racers from Bristol, for £600.

Danny Hudson, a member of the group, paid him in cash. Mr Hudson noticed that fire extinguishers were available, but was told by Mr Jones that they would cost more to hire even if they were not used.

Mr Jones warned him that he had filled in some potholes using tarmac and that drivers should avoid the repairs.

“He told the group to get on with it, but nothing else,” said Mr Jones.

On June 3, 2018, Mr Pillinger drove his car around the track and then changed the wheels and tyres to improve the grip.

Then, said Mr Jones, he began making timed laps with Kashelle Mathias in the passenger seat. She escaped the crash uninjured.

He lost control while emerging from a right-hand bend and the Mazda left an elevated section of the road and rolled over several times.

Mr Jones said the company did not require a licence to rent out the track, but that it was still governed by the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Judge Keith Thomas fined the company, who did not attend court but previously entered a guilty plea, £30,000.

He said that while there were outdoor activities that were legitimate but dangerous, the higher the risk the more important it was that facility managers took adequate measures.

Mid Wales Activity had not carried out a risk assessment, he added, although one would have revealed numerous measures that should have been taken.

These included an assessment of the abilities of those who wanted to use the track, the cars they would drive and the safety equipment fitted to the vehicles and to be worn by drivers and passengers.

The course should have had warnings of bends and obstacles such as trees and inclines.

Other measures would have included an insistence on proper safety headgear – Mr Pillinger was not wearing any – and the fitting of roll cages to cars that would use an elevated track.

Mid Wales Activity had taken none of those steps, he said, nor did the company have a plan in place to deal with an accident.

Judge Thomas said he accepted the state of the track had not contributed to the accident. However, those who managed such facilities have a duty to reduce the risks involved to those using it, he said.

He did not accept that Mid Wales Activity had provided him with reliable financial information. In interviews after the accident, Martyn Jones had said he rented out the track about four times a month at £600 a time, but the company accounts showed far less income.