southerndownhill.com - Forum

this is nothing solid okay so don't go quoting what i say or mi-thering Ian but someone went up caersws  the other weekend without permission and crashed and is trying to sue Ian the person did not sign the disclaimer . Ian i believe has said fair enough and is trying to sue the person for trespassing i don't know were it will go but . it doesn't look promising because as of now caersws is closed and its apparently permanent .  :'(

what a bell end

G

i believe it's private land, so the guy had no right being there in the first place without speaking to Ian. Therefore, i hope, he hasnt got a leg to stand on (the guy sueing).

thankyou for your constructive post .
and that is directed at who . ??
yes i am very local and Ian does not mind 'us' boys up there he is an amazing guy and its such a shame if we loose caersws, well devastating really  :-\

I think that quote was directed at the guy trying to sue "ian" not you.

I dont see why people do this! Ive never ridden caersws but we all know we ride at our own risk and its our own fault if we crash. Plus if its private land and you shouldn't be there in the first place then again thats his own fault. Does he not realize that could threaten the track for everyone else, bit selfish if hes willing to make the track out of bounds for everyone else just because of his own mis fortune.

crap... meant to be going at end of the month!! :-\

The whole 'claim culture' really bugs me, these people break the law and then when something goes wrong then they try and sue... common sense would say they shouldn't get a penny and should be done for trespassing but for a while now it hasn't worked that way and the criminal gets money for it! what a tosser!

yes true .

we would obv have to let it run further to see what the outcome is but what about a save caersws scheme ?

sorry my mistake it was aimed at the guy trying to sue Ian, ive heard nothing but good things from that place so it would be a great shame to see it closed and ruined for everyone because of some muppet who wont follow rules

sorry for any misinterpreted insults

G

Caersws is very good and pretty tech in places. Shame to loose it as a spot. That is kinda disgusting realy.

thats a shame, a real shame, does this mean borderline events' uplift weekend there will no longer be on?

no worries mate .

will have to see what the news is ill keep you posted but , what a great loss of a excellent welsh dh track .  :-[

not sure try contact him because it has happend quite recently i dont  think ian would cancel it though maybe let stuff run untill the years out then close it down  :(

he might have no choice, might have to close down until an independent health and safety inspector comes!

yer it will all be down to the progression of the case that the 'tw@t' brings if he is for real i think it will have to have a safety inspection , ( my dad works for ROSPA and deals with dh track skateparks and other playgrounds and stuff an imediately it would bring up objects within 1.5 meters of fall space eg stumps trees rocks .  :'( its not looking good

I despise 'claim culture'.  I've heard of clueless parents sueing when their kids are hurt, but a rider doing it is pretty sickening!!

Name and shame...

just to say it wont be my dad that inspects it ,  :D he recently inspected cwmcarn well 2 days ago actually and said that they should add a more expert dh track to feed the needs of riders . lol

that is so sh*t, it's such a good track and to be able to do your own uplift (on a decent uplift road)for a fiver was amazing, the farmer was always real friendly and it will be such a shame if it closes down.
i agree, name and shame, i hope the rider is crippled and won't ride again (as long as he loses the case otherwise he could sue for more) he should be banned from all other venues

From what I can remember of my law lectures it comes down to whether the occupiers liability (extended to anyone with reasonable control over a premesis) applys or not. If there were signs up warning of dangers and it was made clear by way of a sign or something not to ride there outside of events then Ian should be ok, if not - despite how wrong it is - there may be a case. that sucks.
Maybe someone with more details and a bit more of a recollection of tort law could correct me. either way I hope it goes the other way, the cretin gets nothing and the track stays open.

does anyone know the guy that is sue`ing?

I want to know this Sue-ing Lads Name and address, And he will soon Pull out of the law case!

PEOPLE MAKE ME SICK

haha sorry..


This just ruins the world we live in!

I've not taken the criminal system For anything more than a joke for a few years, (Ever since some chavs jumped me and mate and broke my nose and stole his bmx, Then they tried sueing us for the one breaking his knuckle!- it was all on cctv, and apparantly I should of avoided the punches to soften the blows to his hanD!)


NAME And SHAME THIS PERSON!!!

Grrrrr I cant belive this, Ian is such a sound guy!

Can remember when I was helping building the 05 NPS track and he would just cut any tree down in the path. Dont know if you remember me bob?

Shaun

no i dont remember you . but Ian's really is a tidy bloke an yes iirc there is a sign up saying now access or sumthing like that but you got to remember that the forest is used for pheasant shooting in the off season i remember when we built the track that was last used and Ian was like this time lets do sumthing off camber so we headed up to the looser side of the wood and he went to work with his chainsaw .

Its pathetic that people will sue over anything.

Its common that if you ride dh, you will most likely fall off and probably hurt yourself. No matter where you ride this can happen.


Think the guy who is trying to sue needs to wake up and see some facts about the sport!

You have any details of where and how he crashed . his fault for being a tw*t if i say so lol ( the guy sue-ing now ) .

unfortunately trespassing is not a criminal offence, but a civil offence, and there would no grounds to "sue" someone for trespass if no criminal damage was done to the property that was trespassed into

the guy who is suiing is a complete bell-end though  :P

i think the rider my not be a rider rider but a argos bike rider if you get what i mean also i beliived they sustained a spinal injury ,

Sueings nothing to do with criminal justice though, its purely a way of settling civil matters is it not? If it was some kind of criminal case then it'd be a case of punishment by cautions/fines as opposed to personal compensation.

I was going to suggest that.  This is the problem with areas like this, not everyone that rides a bike knows how to ride tracks like Caersws, a fair few people rock up at riding venues on completely unsuitable machinery and do themselves a mischief.

It's also possible that it's not the rider sueing but his family....it may not be his/her decision.  Lets wait until we find some facts out before spouting blame, although don't get me wrong it's a shite situation and it'd be crap to loose the venue.

Rootes

PI is definitely a matter for civil litigation. Whoever the landowner is will be ok so long as there are signs warning people that it is an expert trail.  If it went to court the claimant would have to argue that the landowner didn't do everything that was 'reasonably practicable' to warn of the dangers (i.e. not suffient fencing and signs).

Telling people that the landowner knows you guys go riding there without signing the disclaimer won't help either (even though you're trying to help him).  The landowner will have to show that he's done everything in his power to stop people trespassing and having such accidents, so he may decide to make caersws an event only track to cover his own back in future.

If the guy isn't too badly injured it probably won't get to court and it may just die out with a settlement if the landowner doesn't want the hassle of court.

Has the landowner received solicitors letters, a letter from the claimant directly or have they jumped straight in to serving a claim form?

we do sign the disclaimer everytime before we ride . ALWAYS

Just been speaking to Ian....

Basically there was an uplift day but this lad was not booked on, hadn't paid and hadn't signed the disclaimer so shouldn't have been riding.

After the last run of the day he got a lift to the top off a mate and crashed on the last berm - this was after most people had gone home.

He was taken to hospital with a suspected broken rib.  He wasn't even wearing any armour.

The boss of the lad called to find out where he was and found out he was in hospital and called the police.

The police did a follow up of the call and went to see Ian - they found that Ian had everything in place, correct Insurance, First aider on course while people were riding (this lad should not have been riding nor riding after everything had finished)

Nobody is suing anybody and the police left satisfied that Ian had done everything correctly.

The only time people can ride is with permission and with a first aider on hand.

The uplift run by myself will go ahead as planned and with a first aider on course while the uplift is running.


Nobody should ride Caersws except on an official uplift days like I run where there is First Aiders and Insurance in place or with Ian's permission and again with a first aider

Glad you've been able to come and clear this up buddy.  Good news for the venue, it's amazing how nuts the rumour mill is isn't it?!

Rootes

Phew! Got a weekend there in a fortnight, looks like its still on then!

Anyway, anyone who sues for s**t is a bellend.

thank god for that... rumor mill working overtime there... not helped by the likes of me ::)

Well i'm off to the same thing as janitor so thats a weight off our minds! fantastic venue to ride at, and ians a top bloke glad this was all rumor and very little substance!

Thank god for that!

okay im just guna go hide in the corner but really it is a problem so it does go by what the topic says also after talking to bob in brooks yesterday he was still confident that it was closing down .

caersws is very out of the way though tbh, its not as though your average argos rider jobby would stumble across it.

they do mate i was up there once when about 6 kids came on one on a giant trance and all the others on saracen and appolows with no helmets or anything i asked if they had spoke to ian and they said whos ian an rode off.  :-\ also with the issue of the uplift by some act in 195,, sumin i cant remeber of the top of my head that a steward or sumsort should have escorted everyone off the premisises at the end of the uplift to prevent such circumstances this then also opens up were there enough marshals if people were getting on the uplift truck without paying . and also who is acounting for the riders that decide to get to the top and turn around and ride other tracks with no marshals ,

The first aider that Ian hires for his weekends always ensures he's the l;ast down - he waits at the top until the last rider is down then follows him down on the quad ensuring no one is left behind on the track.

how did this happen then ?????

sounds like he stayed around afterwards and got an uplift off his mate, no doubt ian etc had assumed everyone had gone, which is fair enough!

yer im just saying though how did it happen if he just said that last man down get rid off everyone so to speak im not arguing well i dont mean to we all enjoy caersws so lets do our best to keep it but i was just wondering .

Because after everyone was packing up and after the last uplift had finished and people off home these lads went up for a run.

so that means theres is obv not someone checking no one is on track after the last uplift down if he can blatantly drive past the tractors to the top . ????

maybe he went down and no one was on the track! then after everyone had gone home these boys came back and caused this thread!

thats not what he said  anywayy lock this thread . ?

yeap - seconded - all sorted now.