Freedom Isn't Free
Yesterday at the Yorkshire Pudding Rally, NABD Chairman Rick Hulse drew out the winning ticket for the Daft Way Up C90 raffle to win Manny’s bike.
The lucky winner is number 109, Lorna from Brighouse. Thanks to all who supported the Daft Way Up for the past few months. We’ll release the final total raised at the MAG AGC, but suffice to say both MAG and Macmillan cancer care will both be getting sizeable donations.
The initial idea for this fundraiser came about after Leeds MAG had hosted a talk by Nathan Millward, who’d ridden a Honda postie bike from Australia to the UK.
“We should do something daft like that!” We said…..and if we do we should raise some funds for MAG. Last year the MAG family lost Ian Williamson to cancer, so Macmillan cancer care was added to the beneficiaries of the ride.
After batting a few ideas around we decided on Lands End to John O Groats and instead of one type of bike, we said inappropriate motorcycles should be ridden. Basically, if the bike you chose to ride was inappropriate for a trip of 1000 miles, that would do!
We decided to self fund the ride so the two causes would benefit from all the money raised, this meant that each rider paid out of their own pocket for an inappropriate motorcycle, all fuel, accommodation, and holiday time to complete the trip.
We were amazed at the response from interested MAG members and finally ended up with 17 riders, 2 support drivers a cameraman and a fixer (to sort out all the odds and ends for everyone)
We set the start date for 1st April (when else?) and planned everything from that.
Due to time restrictions (getting time off work) we planned to get the bikes from home to Lands End and from John O Groats to home at the end in hire vans.
Congratulations to the Daft Way Up team for successfully completing their journey. It wasn’t easy. Snow in Alston claimed a few casualties and they also had to cope with speed cameras on the A9 to Inverness. However they arrived at John O’Groats yesterday.
You can still donate via https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/mag-daft-way-up and remember, it’s 50% to MAG and 50% to Macmillan Nurses, both very good causes.
The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG), the UK’s leading voice for riders, will be hoping for good weather over the Easter weekend as riders set off on a lengthy fundraising trip.
Around twenty intrepid MAG members hope to embark on a week-long adventure entitled ‘The Daft Way Up’ to raise funds for MAG and Macmillan Cancer Support. The trip will be self-funded, ridden on ‘inappropriate’ motorcycles and will take a week to complete.
Richard Manton, Leeds and Yorkshire Regional Rep for MAG said: “We are inviting members to join us along the route on their own motorcycles (inappropriate or not) to support and highlight our efforts. We will set off each day at 10.00 am from the following venues:
Sunday April 1st – Lands’ End visitors centre, TR19 7AA
Monday April 2nd – Bishops Taejon Road, Barnstaple, EX32 0AX
Tuesday April 3rd – The Blacksmiths Arms, Lydney, GL15 6AU
Wednesday April 4th – Glossop Travelodge, SK13 8HT
Thursday April 5th – Haggs Bank Bunkhouse, Alston, CA9 3LH
Friday April 6th – Glenrothes Travelodge, KY7 6GH
Saturday April 7th – Inverness Fairways Travelodge, IV2 6AA
and we hope to arrive at John O’ Groats at approximately 2.00 pm on the final day.
If you can see us off, welcome us in or join in yourself at any point, it will be greatly appreciated. Anyone who does join in will be able to obtain a pair of ‘Daft Way Up’ stickers for a suggested donation of £5.00. All support and donations will be very gratefully received.”
One of the bikes on the trip will have a tracker fitted so it will be possible to see exactly where the DWU riders are at any point. There will be a ‘Daft Way Up Diary’ posted on Facebook with daily updates and donations can be pledged via the donation page on Facebook; just Google ‘daft way up’ and follow the links.
Donations will be split 50/50 between MAG and Macmillan Cancer Support. Donate en-route to any of “The Dafties” or online at https://www.justgiving.com/cro
The next event in our regular series of talks will be An Evening With Elsbeth on the 24th of March 2018. Full details including online ticket sales in our shop.
Get your flat caps, Nora Batty tights and whippets out (not a euphemism!). Our next social event will be a celebration of Yorkshire Day on the 29th of July at the Royal Hotel in Pudsey. We’ve got a busy day ahead with lots going on. All proceeds will be split between MAG and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
Be there or be Lancastrian!
We’ve carried out a new Freedom of Information Act request covering motorcycle thefts in postcode areas beginning with BD and LS for 1st April 2015 – 31st March 2016, and 1st April 2016 – 31st March 2017. As before the recovery and prosecution rates are extremely low. The figures are as follows:
First the recovery rates:
| 2015-16 | 2016-17 | |
| Recovered | 449 | 509 |
| Not recovered | 554 | 603 |
| Total | 1003 | 1112 |
| Recovery rate | 44.77% | 45.77% |
And in a graph:
If your bike is stolen you’ve got a less than 46% chance of seeing it again.
Next, the actions taken after theft:
| 2015-16 | 2016-17 | |
| Investigations ongoing | 103 | 50 |
| Charged or summonsed | 26 | 36 |
| Cautioned | 5 | 5 |
| Community resolution | 1 | 1 |
| Investigation complete/evidential difficulties/no suspect ID | 868 | 1020 |
| Total | 1003 | 1112 |
The chances of something actually happening to bike thieves is less than 10%. And in a graph:
We’re not happy with these very low rates and we’re working with the police to do what we can to improve things. We’ll keep you posted about what happens.
Thanks to everyone who came to the third Leeds MAG bargain hunt challenge today. It was a fun day and everything is now listed as auctions with 99p start prices. Everything will be live and for sale from 21.35 tonight and will end next Sunday night. The winner will be whoever makes the most money above the start price. All money raised will go straight to MAG to promote and protect riders rights. To look at the ‘bargains’ just go to http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html… and all the delights will be revealed. Happy bidding.
On the 16th of Feb me and Steve Bolton (Yorkshire political rep) attended a meeting at Leeds Civic Hall with Councillor Debra Coupar, Chief Superintendent Paul Money and Adrian Tonge (legal services LCC). The meeting opened with a frank admission from Councillor Coupar that there have been failings from both the council and police in the implementation and notice of the injunction as they’ve never had to put one in place before. Lessons will be learnt. She apologised on behalf of the council for any misunderstandings that have arisen.
The injunction is on an offshoot of the council website but not on the main site – again a mistake she admitted to and an apology was given.
Chief Superintendent Money stressed that the injunction was in no way whatsoever going to affect legal riders in any way. The injunction is intended to be served to individuals (not groups) prior to any events, as and when intelligence highlights any potential illegal rides.
The injunction will not be used to stop group rides from both clubs and groups of friends, or affect charity rides, funeral processions or even demonstration rides – so long as individuals involved are legal.
He regretted the lack of resources available on the night of the Halloween ride out but admitted his hands were tied and the police did the best they could to keep the public safe.
Using intelligence gained from the video footage, over 30 people have been sent to the youth courts, magistrates court and crown court that were directly involved in the Halloween ride. The injunction has already been served six times in the last two months to stop illegal rides before they happen. It will also be used to clamp down on illegal riders on off road bikes causing a public nuisance.
We’ve been assured that, in the future, MAG will be fully informed of any similar actions from either Leeds city council or the police in Leeds.
We suggested that MAG organised an event to promote a positive image of bikers and both the council and police were keen to be seen to be backing us up and want to be involved. Details are to be negotiated but all ideas will be looked at so if you have an idea for an event to promote the positive image of bikers, let me know.
All in all the meeting cleared up a lot of our fears over the injunction and we left the meeting feeling like we’d made some allies in high places.
Ride safe
Manny (Leeds and Bradford MAG rep)