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Quick Quacks in Northumberland | |
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May 2000 in Wiltshire | |
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What happened to me | |
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Track Days | |
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International Show at NEC | |
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Contact Gary if you want t-shirts |
Sadly, one of us didn't even make it on to his bike to join the weekend. Aran fell down stairs and broke his ankle just before he was due to set off. We hoped this was not an omen of things to come, as we overspent the drinks kitty with some enthusiastic wine ordering at dinner. Although Aran didn't make it, we did welcome some new faces to a QQ run, including Colin and Yoav from Carlisle.
Gary Enever had organised a superb run for us on the Saturday. The first challenge of the day was posed by Mike's visor. He had removed it to clean it and couldn't put it back on. It took the combined wit of several QQ's to fix it. We started off in some fog across the moors, with lots of interesting hazards, including wandering sheep, and cattle grids nicely placed on bends. Then we sped up to Alston, and on to Hartside Cafe where the fog had lifted, and we refreshed ourselves with coffee. We split into a faster group and slower group at this point, with Yoav bravely offering to lead the slower group across the Scottish border to our lunch stop, making this the first international Quick Quacks run.
When we reached Newcastleton for lunch, we realised that Mark was missing. He had last been seen topping up with petrol. It turned out he had made the mistake of following another dark blue VFR out of the petrol station which had nothing to do with out group, and was well into Scotland before he realised what was going on! Gary went off to look for him, but he arrived safely from the other direction, just as Gary had ridden off. At this point, Lee also confessed to having a moment involving a dog on the road. In avoiding the dog, he got target fixation on a hedge, and his beautiful yellow T595 ended up on the floor for the second meeting in a row. Fortunately, there was very little damage to the bike, and no serious damage to Lee either, although it took a while to pull the bike out of the hedge.
The next part of the journey through Scotland towards Jedburgh and then on to Carter Bar took in some of the best roads of the day - beautiful twisty roads with good surface, nice visibility and no traffic to speak of. The weather forecast had not been good for the day, but in fact this was the only stretch where we had any significant drizzle to speak of. However as we reached Carter Bar on the England/Scotland border, it was soon obvious that the drizzle was not responsible for the large puddle of water under Mark's T595 - he had suffered a stone strike to the radiator and was leaking coolant at a prodigious rate. Poor Mark had to phone for the AA, who took him and his bike back home to Devon (a very long way away), arriving safely back many hours later. It wasn't a good day for Triumphs!
The slow group suffered a minor but remediable setback as we headed into England along the only speed-camera lined section of the route. Colin's oil light came on, and we had to find a garage to top up his FJ1200. Then we all headed to Gary's house for tea, some delicious scones and the most gooey chocolate cake imaginable.
We decided to go back along Hadrian's wall to the hotel, taking it easy to avoid any more mishaps on the damp roads when we were so close to home. We were all very tired after a long ride, but it had been an excellent day, brilliant roads, stunning scenery and we all deserved a drink. Or several.....
The hotel was much busier, with a wedding party in attendance, and we enjoyed our meal to the background of a ceilidh dance band entertaining the adjacent wedding guests. We then adjourned to the bar where large quantities of beer and whisky were consumed, and Jane showed that junior doctors rule when it comes to playing pool!
Sunday morning started with a club meeting, followed by a basic life support lecture from Gary, who had brought the resus dummy specially for this purpose, although not on the bike! We then packed up and headed off to the four corners of the country, through the crowds of bikes attending the Storming the Castle event at Darlington nearby. All in all, an excellent weekend for most, and even one Triumph made it through the weekend unscathed. Roll on Wiltshire in the Spring!
Three main items came up for discussion here. First, we decided on the dates and venues for meetings in 2000, and these are detailed below. We also discussed the possibility of getting more club merchandise. Gary agreed to look in to this. Finally, we decided to try and keep members without e-mail and internet access in more regular touch by issuing more frequent and shorter newsheets during the Summer. The time and effor involved in doing this would be offset by members with internet access being able to opt just to receive the electronic version of the newsletter. Gary Enever also volunteered to represent the club at the British Motorcycle Federation AGM in Glasgow in October. Sadly he didn't make it due to a small problem with a disk lock (Doh!!!)
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Meeting in Wiltshire taking in the Welsh Borders. This is being organised by Rupert (Angel) Gabriel. If you are interested in attending even at this early stage please either a) E-mail Angel to let him know you'd like to come or b) Write a brief note to Doc Sarah at the address on the back page, expressing your interest |
This is likely to be longer than a simple weekend trip, so you are being given plenty of notice to clear those diaries! At present we are looking into the possibility of getting a company that organises motorcycle tours to organise one for us, which would take the hassle out of checking out hotels and petrol stops, and may even provide a back-up van. Again, full details will be posted as soon as they are available, but if you are interested, please e-mail Jane or write to Doc Sarah.
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You've probably all read about my big accident last year in which I was struck from behind by a lorry on the M5 on my way to the Devon QQ meeting. Having suffered very major injuries (including fractures to tibia, fibula, femur and spine), major expense as a result, and permanent health problems, I was obviously keen to get some compensation from the lorry driver responsible. The lorry driver was convicted of driving without due care and attention, and received five points and £150 fine, and his insurers admitted liability. So this should have been a straightforward case, right?
WRONG!!!! I thought I'd let you know about my experiences, so that should you ever find yourself in a similar position you can learn from my experience and hopefully not make the mistakes I have made.
The first solicitors appointed were named by my legal expenses insurers, Albany. They seemed experienced enough, and came to visit me in hospital. However they were very guarded about the possibility of getting compensation, and seemed to think that I would very likely receive a very small amount, and that many years after the accident. My damages would also be reduced because I had cystic fibrosis, which obviously meant that I was particularly susceptible to a bad outcome, and it was likely that any award would be reduced because of it. That was no good. I needed money there and then to cope with extra costs of care, housework, gardening, buying an automatic car to get around in, help with shopping and money to pay for my mother to stay in an hotel near the hospital.
Initially, there was some progress made, and a small payment sufficient to cover the damage to my kit, plus my mother's hotel bills was obtained. However six months after the accident, and I had still not had any kind of assessment of the injuries made, no assessment of my care needs made, and got no answer to letters to the solicitors.
A police surgeon from London then recommended that I talk to a friend of his, an ex-policeman, who ran an accident aid management company. The idea was that they obtain money from insurers and pay it into an account for you, from which your needs are met. Although they take a fee for this, the claim was that insurers are more willing to pay out money to an arrangement like this because they can see that it is being used for real needs, rather than to pay for trivia. The chap in charge came with a recommendation from another police officer, and they generally felt that the sums discussed previously by my old solicitors were inadequate. I decided that it was worth the fee to get some money quickly, and signed their agreement. They recommended another firm of solicitors to handle the case, and I duly transferred to them.
Initially, things seemed to go well. They arranged a medical examination, and an occupational therapy assessment, and asked for full documentation of my expenses including any receipts I had, in order to get an interim payment from the third party insurers. But then things ground to a halt. On the strength of their optimism I had laid out money for a much-needed stairlift, and a wheelchair ramp so my mother could visit my house. I had to pay a gardener and for additional domestic help. I had bought a new car expecting rapid compensation. They had told me to take a holiday (which I did) and they would pay for it out of my account even though no payment had been made yet. But by twelve months after the accident I had received no money, and I wrote asking what was happening. I got no reply.
Because of this, I telephoned the solicitors directly, only to find out that a payment of £5000 had been made to the accident management company three months before, about which I had been told nothing. I was horrified. The solicitors confirmed that the cheque had been cashed almost immediately. However I was unable to contact the chap in charge. It seemed that the firm was in financial difficulties, had fallen out with my solicitors, and had moved out of their offices leaving no forwarding address. The colleague in London managed to contact the chap in charge once, who claimed he had not cashed the cheque, but was keeping it on file. In the meantime the solicitors discovered that money was missing not just from my case, but from other cases they were dealing with for this accident management company.
I contacted Companies House and got the home address of the directors and company secretary of the company involved, and wrote to them at home, giving them a chance to pay up if this was an oversight. Again, no reply. I then decided I needed to terminate the agreement with them, in case any more money was paid over to them and disappeared. This proved quite difficult, because the terms for termination were extremely strict - I had to write to the address on the agreement (impossible because they were no longer there) by registered post and the delivery had to be signed for by a legible signature of a company employee (no good if the signature was illegible). I used Post Office Special Delivery, which traces mail at every step, you can trace progress on their web site, and they will send you a copy of the postman's delivery form with the signature. Expensive, yes, but it proved worth it to become the proud owner of a signature that was legible, and the name printed underneath was that of the company secretary. We were assured by a barrister that this constituted termination of the agreement. Of course this didn't get my money back, but at least no more could go astray.
There then remained the problem of paying for the case. My legal expenses insurers would not allow me to change solicitors. However in reality this was not a problem. Liability had been proved, and costs would be awarded against the third party. The Law Society operates a post-event insurance scheme that covers all important costs for a one-off premium of around £100. Although this excludes Barristers' fees, the Solicitors take out similar insurance to cover those on my behalf, so I am covered. This is something worth knowing about, because "No Win No Fee" agreements tend to take a chunk of your damages, and you don't need to sign away part of your award - just use this reputable insurance scheme instead.
There was also a major problem with the medical examination. I was examined by a surgeon who seemed pleasant enough. But I was last in the morning, and he was pushed for time. After discussing my symptoms, he did a very cursory examination, which I had assumed was just the beginning of a more detailed discussion of my problems, but was then told to leave. He had not, for example, elicited the weakness in my leg and foot because he had not tested power in my leg. He had not measured scars. He had not examined the sensory nerve damage and no mention was made of the medical complications I had suffered.
I also had to attend another examination for the third party's insurers. This was deliberately put in room up three flights of stairs to see if I could manage. I did manage, but made it obvious how painful it was, and how extremely breathless I was. He examined me more thoroughly, because this time I was wise, and told him what he should be doing. However he seemed surprised that I had dressed as quickly as I had done, so he was obvioulsy looking to trap me into appearing to be less seriously injured than I was. Finally, I was sent for an x-ray, which showed the femoral fracture to be failing to heal.
It appears that the accident management company are now being investigated on two fronts: by the Police for fraud, and by the DTI for illegal trading as an insurance company. My chances of recovering the lost money are poor: I could go through the small claims court, but since they have ignored previous judgements against them, it is unlikely I get the money. I could issue an order to wind up the company, but they have no assets, so would get very little. I could hope to get some money from them if they continue trading and their financial position improves, but their track record is poor. Fortunately, the solicitors are excellent, know about motorcycles, and know about the ruses used by the court to minimise damage awards.
What have I learned from this
minefield?
I'll keep you all posted on progress.
I managed to miss this event last year, thanks to my unscheduled lorry interface and some surgery co-inciding with the show, so I was determined to make the most of it this year, not the least because I had a backdated pay rise in my pocket just itching to be spent on a new bike.....
Having experienced serious crowds two years ago, I took a precious day's leave to attend on a weekday. I arrived just as the doors opened and made a sprint for the new Fireblade, expecting big queues. However the day turned out much quieter than anticipated, and I got to sit on lots of bikes and try them for size.
Honda had the new VTR race bike on display as well as the new Fireblade. The new 'Blade was mega-tiny - much smaller now than the CBR600, and small enough even for a tiny person like me to ride. They also had the new Hornet-S model on display, a half-faired version of their little 600cc musclebike, which I certainly like the look of. I wasn't so impressed by the dancers 'though - we were led to believe by sections of the motorcycling press that there would be a lot of blokes (sorry, nice gentlemen) getting their kit off..... unfortunately there was very little removal of kit and they were wearing young ladies in bikinis most of the time anyway. A great disappointment!
Suzuki had the new GSXR-750 model on display, still much too tall for me. The new Bandits were also on display, but they didn't have a 600-S model that you could sit on, which I thought was a shame. The SV650 and 650S were available to try out, and I preferred the riding position on the S model. Both seemed rather big compared to the sports 600's 'though.
Kawasaki had the new ZX12 bike on display, which I thought was quite ugly, and I am a confirmed Kawasaki fan! I was also surprised just how big and fat the ZX-6 feels after sitting on the smaller offerings from other manufacturers. They were big on custom bikes this year, and the sports bikes took a bit of a back seat ....
Yamaha had the new R1 and R6 models on display and there was a queue to sit on these. The R6 is very small and compact, although I felt rather disappointed that with a big tank in the way I couldn't hang off the bike very far. Otherwise their range was almost unchanged, although the Fazer now comes in slightly more lively colours. They also had a new low-seat trailie 125, the first I've ever had a hope of riding, which was interesting.
Cagiva had the new Raptor and V-Raptor on display, and they look extremely imposing bikes, with a very low seat and the TL1000S engine given Italian makeover. Very impressive, but not available to sit on.
Ducati had the new 996 and 748 models on display and available to sit on. The good news is that they have fixed the side stands for 2000, with no automatic flip up, and a cut-out switch instead. The seat height has also dropped within my range, and I fell in love with the 748S (single seat model) in yellow. My next bike perhaps.... They also had a Monster Sport on display, but it looked as if they had added bits of carbon fibre to the existing bike, rather than replacing parts of it with carbon fibre to make it lighter, and it seemed a little bit like a fashion victim, really. The fly screen looked nice 'though. The ST-4 was attracting a lot of attention also.
Aprilia was disappointing this year. Obviously it had the new incarnations of the RSV Mille, and these looked lovely, but there was little else available to try out - no RS250 to sit on, lots of scooters in race replica colours and that was it. It wasn't helped when I was jeered at by a passing bloke when trying out the RS125 to see how easy it was to move around in the saddle and hang off.... perhaps he had been stuffed at a track day by a girly!
BMW had the super new R1100RS giant trailie on display, an absolute monster of a bike. I'm never quite sure whether this is German humour or whether they really mean it! Hpwever one thing for BMW is that they do their own thing and their bikes are always different from the standard Japanese, Italian and British plastic offerings.
KTM had the new livery Duke which looked wonderful, although sadly my feet were about a foot from the ground on either side of the bike! The CCM trailie bikes also looked really quite tasty, if out of my reach.
Triumph had the new TT600 on display. I wasn't sure about this. I didn't like the colour schemes on the prototype on display, and there were lovely features matched by ugly ones. I particularly didn't like the black frame and the air intake, but others may feel it was beautiful. I'm not sure they have a world beater here...
MV Agusta in my view stole the show with their F4 in various liveries, including an absolutely drooltastic dribbleicious version in matt black. There is just something about the styling of those four gorgeous exhausts poking out under the tailpiece that is both beautiful and intimidating, at least to anything left behind in its wake. It is a truly beautiful bike.
Non-bike highlights included Duke and Duchess Leathers. I'd been looking for some clothing that was different from mainstream biking gear but still safe and good quality. Sadly you seem to need to look like Mick Doohan when popping down the pub, or put up with cheap tat in thin leather with no armor and poorly-stitched seams. Duchess make clothing well, out of good quality leather. Their styles are feminine and look like fashion garments, but the jackets come with Knox CE-approved armor and a back protector. I bought a pair of plain black leather jeans that look like fashion jeans but are thick good quality hide, and a very pleasing jacket that could be worn on or off the bike. Now if I go out for an evening, I can arrive looking reasonably normal.
All the main dealerships had stalls there, and there were some reasonable bargains to be had, but in general the J&S and Motorcycle City offerings were a disappointment, with most of the leathers and kit on offer being of relatively poor quality by cheaper manufacturers. However I did buy a polartec neck warmer. There was also a stand called Glo Marka that did reflective vests, armbands, and just sold the tape for you to stick on anything you wanted, as well as stickers for bikes, jackets and luggage to improve visibility. I bought some stickers to make my bike glow in the dark, and was generally impressed by the range. I was also impressed at the stand selling Spencer-Wells forceps for £2.50 a shot, presumably to clamp off fuel lines when you removed the tank....
Meeting up was the best bit of the show. I met up with my friends Helen and Chris, Jo Baddeley and Ian Woolley from Quick Quacks, and Chris Paine from Ixion. I also met up with Bruce Card from Track Tamers (he runs commercial track days) and promised to go along to some of his events next year (as if I needed persuading).
My general impression was that the show was not such a success this year. The manufacturers seem to be struggling to produce anything truly new, with the exception of the MV-Agusta F4, the new Aprilias, new Honda VTR and the new Cagivas. The Triumph TT600 doesn't look finished yet to me, but then what do I know?! Perhaps it reflects the move from an exciting and growing market to a mature market, in which there is relatively little difference between the offerings from major manufacturers. Or maybe as a consumer I have got more sophisticated and choosy, and less willing to rush out and buy the latest offerings just because they are fashionable. Whatever, I enjoyed the show, the opportunity to sit on many different bikes and try them for size, and fell in love with a yellow 748...... and the beautiful if unobtainable MV-Agusta. Here's to the Spring, a new bike, dry roads, sticky tyres and another summer of riding ....
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T-shirts: Printed in colour on white background with "Duck, here come the Quick Quacks" design |
£8 |
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Polo shirts: Embroidered in colour on the left breast with Quick Quacks circular logo. Variety of colours |
£12 | |
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Sweatshirts: Embroidered with logo as above. |
£12 | |
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Patches: To sew onto jackets and other items, embroidered with logo as above |
£3 | |
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Fleece Jackets: Various colours and sizes embroidered with logo as above |
£20 to £30 depending on style | |
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Baseball Caps with embroidered logo |
various, depending on style |
If you want to contact Quick Quacks Motorcycle Club, here's how
Dr Sarah Walters (Secretary), Department of Public Health & Epidemiology, University of Birmingham B15 2TT
Tel: 0121 414 6760
Fax: 0121 414 7878
E-mail: docsarah@docsarah.demon.co.uk
Visit the web site on http://www.docsarah.demon.co.uk/QQMCC.htm
