BIKE racers can celebrate today as a law which threatened to cripple the motorsport industry has been all but axed.
The UK’s Department of Transport have confirmed in a press release issued yesterday that they are taking the necessary steps to exempt the UK from the implications of the EU Motor Insurance Directive, or VNUK as it became known.
Had the EU law been implemented in Great Britain, the insurance industry would have been liable for almost £2 billion in extra overall costs, which would have been passed on to the vehicle owner.
The ruling would have meant that any incident in motorcycle sport would have been treated as a regular road traffic accident, requiring significantly more insurance cover for all participants and organisers. Extra costs were set to leave the sport and thousands of industry jobs at risk.
But with the UK’s departure from the EU, racers can rejoice in a big win for bike sport as the measures no longer need to be implemented.
“The announcement made by Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport has been welcomed wholeheartedly throughout the ACU community,” revealed Roy Humphrey, Chairman of the ACU.
“I know a lot of work has taken place in the background working with the Department of Transport, Insurers, Motorsport UK and other facilitators of motorsport, and I would like to thank everyone involved for their considerable efforts over the years which has obviously gone some way to today’s decision being made.
“[The] announcement signifies a huge victory for motorsport overall and hopefully it won’t be too long before we can get the sport underway…some good news at last.”
The VNUK ruling will continue to apply in the EU member states and the FIM is making representations to acquire exemptions for motorsport.
