TMX Says: Battle is on to save motorsport
By TMX Archives on 4th Jan 17
IT seems an age ago now but just before Christmas the ACU, AMCA and MCIA joined forces to fire out some PR regarding a piece of EU insurance legislation that could potentially bring an end to all motorsport in the UK.
Dun, dunn, dunnn!
Basically, the top and bottom of it is this – anyone using any form of motorised transport will be required to have third party damage and injury insurance.
Sounds simple but the insurance industry has made it clear to the Government that third party risks for motorsport activities are uninsurable due to the high number of claims that could arise.
While the UK insurance industry isn't willing to take on the risk, a similar scheme does already exist in Finland where premiums are also charged per machine. With the price of cover ranging from 500 to 30,000 Euros per year – and hefty fines in place for anyone not conforming to the rules – it's already taken a huge toll on grassroots racing over there.
One thing that makes the premiums so high is the difficulty in investigating claims and the potential for fraud.
Also, the issue of uninsured vehicles would have a cost implication for those people who do insure their bikes – as is already the case with road vehicles right now.
There's also the question of where liability lies if an uninsured vehicle is used problematically in an organised event. Is it the rider who is liable? The land owner? The event organiser? The governing body?
Common sense should make that answer obvious but when has common sense ever played a part in legal matters like these?
It's not just motorsport that's affected though and the legislation would also mean that pretty much everything from electric bicycles to sit-on lawnmowers would be included, as well as that old motor you've got sat SORNed (Statutory Off Road Notification) on your driveway.
While those things are way more insurable, the cost of doing so is going to hit people where it hurts the most – in their pockets – and is definitely a negative in my books.
So what's going to happen? My guess is that if it doesn't just all go away quietly, the legislation will be passed but certain vehicle groups will be made ineligible if used in certain ways.
In our case that would mean licensed competition sanctioned by one of the ‘authorised' governing bodies – the ACU and SACU, AMCA, IOPD, ORMS (YMSA), MCF (NORA) and BSMA – meaning the British motorsports industry and all the lovely income it generates for the UK is saved and everyone else can go whistle.
We'll keep you posted...
Fortunately, if all motorsport were to come to an end in the UK then fear not because there is an alternative that costs more or less nothing to compete in and one where you can make good money too!
As TMX hits newsagents shelves 12 of the world's greatest mobile phone motocrossers are currently battling it out for the Mad Skills Motocross 2 World Championship in Sweden – check the action live at www.gumbler.com/mx2wc/.
With $20,000 up for grabs – that's $20,000 more than you get for winning the actual world motocross championship – the competition is likely to be fairly fierce.
And it's not just the world champs where money is up for grabs! Apparently, some players are earning up to 6K a month in prize money with around a million dollars being paid out each year!
Best get those thumbs trained up, eh?
