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Rider insurance (or lack thereof)


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4 hours ago, Fromafar said:

I remember years ago when a collarbone or back injury seemed to be “ favourite” at the end of season to get you on the insurance for a few extra weeks after the season finished.

I didn't really want to go into that but I can assure you the same names were cropping up year after year

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1 hour ago, Byker Biker said:

I didn't really want to go into that but I can assure you the same names were cropping up year after year

Like I said I had my suspicions about one rider, it seemed like just before the end of season he would slide off and get a back injury and it was around that time that the CICA stopped new customers 

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27 minutes ago, Racin Jason 72 said:

Richard Coleman has called out the bspl for full transparency and accountability on this subject in today’s speedway star   

Who the hell does this fella think he is?

Transparency, and Accountability, indeed....

He will be seeking Credibility and Integrity next....

Then, before you know it, he will be after meetings being ran with Jeopardy and Consequences, which could even end up givng the competitions Prestige and some larger financial backing...

A slippery slope, this.....

:D

 

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1 hour ago, mikebv said:

Who the hell does this fella think he is?

Transparency, and Accountability, indeed....

He will be seeking Credibility and Integrity next....

Then, before you know it, he will be after meetings being ran with Jeopardy and Consequences, which could even end up givng the competitions Prestige and some larger financial backing...

A slippery slope, this.....

:D

 

Upwards I hope! The truth is the BSPA/L as it is now have no-one capable of handling Richard. His logical approach will be seen as threatening and disruptive. They will make allowances for his relative naivety then try and get him into line and wear him down just as they have done with others before him. Some great and capable individuals have been lost from the Promoters ranks because of this, RFG is so insular and just doesn't get any bigger picture at all. It's bobble hats and foot stamping all the way.

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The only hope is to continue chipping away at the old brigade and ideally move out one or two board members from the 2025 bunch every season. Lone voices never had any traction in the past but if people like Coleman join the cause and the old school/self interest driven can continue to be ousted then there is hope. 

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Interesting comments from Charles Wright in the Speedway Star...

He said he wouldn't have ridden if he had known that the insurance coverage had changed..

Basically he gets nothing given he wasnt in hospital for three nights as per the new policy...

He revealed that personal insurance would cost him ÂŁ1200 a month which would mean no point in riding...

The BEN Fund is helping both him and the two Danish lads currently injured, given they had no UK  insurance cover, as they don't ride on ACU licenses...

Any changes to Retail and Employment Laws were emailed to me, almost daily given slight changes are often, when I worked, so as to ensure I didn't leave the company facing any tribunals or litigation for decisions I made...

Such a fundamental change to the riders should have been a huge, direct, prioritised communication to them individually, you would have thought...

 

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5 hours ago, Racin Jason 72 said:

Richard Coleman has called out the bspl for full transparency and accountability on this subject in today’s speedway star   

And he is quite "scathing" in his comments around  the "PR" and "Lack of leadership" on the issue...

The Speedway Star is certainly delivering some quality publications, consistently....

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On 4/7/2026 at 5:06 PM, crescent girl said:

Yes, but don't let that get in the way of all the potty-posters in here, Speedy!

Looks like there was some justification for Barker and Potty posters comments,still you have never liked Forum Fannie’s having an opinion.Nothing new there.

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2 minutes ago, mikebv said:

And he is quite "scathing" in his comments around  the "PR" and "Lack of leadership" on the issue...

The Speedway Star is certainly delivering some quality publications, consistently....

Unfortunately it will take something quite radical to get the current incumbents to drop the cloth cap thought process and take the sport forward.

Not sure if it is possible but someone somewhere who has finally had enough but believes in the sport to investigate the possibility of taking a UK club into one of the European leagues or even the second tier of Polish speedway if that would be allowed. You would get (bar the weather) once a fortnight home meetings and everyone knows where they stand for the season ahead in advance unlike the debacle every year in this country. Oh to see the sport run professionally again.

The other issue on the insurance, given the importance why did no one in authority do a press release on the website and in SS in advance notifying riders et al of the impending change? Probably because they simply could not be bothered and with that attitude would you really want to work for people like them.

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Just now, Hawk127 said:

Unfortunately it will take something quite radical to get the current incumbents to drop the cloth cap thought process and take the sport forward.

Not sure if it is possible but someone somewhere who has finally had enough but believes in the sport to investigate the possibility of taking a UK club into one of the European leagues or even the second tier of Polish speedway if that would be allowed. You would get (bar the weather) once a fortnight home meetings and everyone knows where they stand for the season ahead in advance unlike the debacle every year in this country. Oh to see the sport run professionally again.

The other issue on the insurance, given the importance why did no one in authority do a press release on the website and in SS in advance notifying riders et al of the impending change? Probably because they simply could not be bothered and with that attitude would you really want to work for people like them.

One word..

Leadership....

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36 minutes ago, mikebv said:

One word..

Leadership....

Reading the article, he is not a happy chap and rightly so. If things do not change I cannot see him sticking around too long. Someone wants it to be professionally run and proper lines of communication while the top table are not listening and pissing off a new promoter almost before a wheel has turned. Welcome Richard Coleman to the farce that is UK speedway. 

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6 hours ago, Racin Jason 72 said:

Richard Coleman has called out the bspl for full transparency and accountability on this subject in today’s speedway star   

This article fully tells you all about the bspl, putting aside the actual issue of the insurance which is shocking it’s the lack of reply’s the lack of solutions and just sheer incompetence of the bspl, I have said it many times speedway faces many threats of extinction from all different quarters, money, planners, greyhounds and everything else but when you scratch away at the surface at all these issues it comes back to a sport that is run so badly it doesn’t know how to defend itself and has nobody who can fight for speedway’s corner and no ideas to take the sport forward and when challenged disappears into a corner not to found,”if I put my fingers in my ears I can’t here the phone ringing then I don’t have to answer it “ that is speedway mentality, I hope Richard Coleman is the man to take on the BSPL and finally break down the barrier that many have failed at, time will tell, he has already taken the first step and rubbed them up the wrong way and they will be seething at him but we will see what happens next 

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21 minutes ago, Hawk127 said:

Reading the article, he is not a happy chap and rightly so. If things do not change I cannot see him sticking around too long. Someone wants it to be professionally run and proper lines of communication while the top table are not listening and pissing off a new promoter almost before a wheel has turned. Welcome Richard Coleman to the farce that is UK speedway. 

Indeed...

There is a certain "grey area" when it comes to riders being self employed/employees of clubs, however, there is a valid question to be asked whether this change is a change in the "Terms and Conditions of Employment" for the riders...

Given insurance will be a fundamental prerequisite for riding you would presume...

And, Customs and Practice, for many, many years, was the riders paid about a fiver per race to be covered, with the cover being "X,Y,Z"....

Such a fundamental change to a contract, in the "normal business world" would have seen written communication of the changes to those impacted, with all the "As is" and "To be" details of the changes outlined...

 

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1 hour ago, mikebv said:

Indeed...

There is a certain "grey area" when it comes to riders being self employed/employees of clubs, however, there is a valid question to be asked whether this change is a change in the "Terms and Conditions of Employment" for the riders...

Given insurance will be a fundamental prerequisite for riding you would presume...

And, Customs and Practice, for many, many years, was the riders paid about a fiver per race to be covered, with the cover being "X,Y,Z"....

Such a fundamental change to a contract, in the "normal business world" would have seen written communication of the changes to those impacted, with all the "As is" and "To be" details of the changes outlined...

 

I don’t see any grey area - there can be no doubt that riders contracted to British clubs are self employed. So “terms and conditions of employment” are irrelevant. They have, instead, terms and conditions of engagement. And in the vast majority of cases, these cease to operate when a rider stops riding for a club, either because they move on or because the season has ended. I suspect that also applies even when a rider is reported to have signed a multiple year deal as these can easily be cancelled. Further, with the abolition of retained lists, no rider is tied to a club beyond the end of their existing deal. 
Those signed up to ride in British speedway this year will have signed a contract and it’s reasonable to assume that contract contains details of the insurance cover provided to them. 
The huge proviso, of course is that something as radical as the change in insurance arrangements, which, of course simply brings British speedway into line with all other national governing bodies should not only have been clearly outlined to all riders, but someone with half a brain would have found and offered to the riders additional insurance which they could choose to pay for individually. 
In my opinion

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