All,

Further to the very disappointing announcement yesterday regarding the cancellation of the Society’s Championship event at Chatsworth Country Fair, I wanted to provide further context and reason as to why this unfortunate decision had to be made.

On 14^th June, the British Driving Society were sentenced at Swansea Crown Court for several breaches in Health & Safety laws relating to an event which had taken place on 27^th May 2012, where an incident occurred which resulted in a young competitor been fatally injured.

The position the Society found itself in leading up to the June court hearing was one where there was no option but to plead guilty, largely due not only to failings at the event on the 27^th May 2012 but also due to the way which the Society had managed related legal and civil proceedings during the period from 2012 through to 2016.

Sentencing guidelines for the charges the Society was being prosecuted for indicated that we were facing a fine well into hundreds of thousands of pounds, and it looked likely that a fine of that magnitude would result in the Society going bankrupt. Clearly, this prospect and situation was extremely stressful for all the current Council members. Therefore, the efforts of our legal team and Council turned to how we could provide mitigation and build a case for leniency with the penalty which we were facing.

There were a number of elements in the case we made for leniency with one of the primary ones been the excellent health and safety record of the Society over many decades. Fortunately, on the 14^th June at sentencing we were fined £90,000, whilst this was extremely disappointing, it is a sum which the Society can afford to pay.

During sentencing, the Judge made a number of observations along with clear stipulations about where the Society’s Health and Safety practices required strengthening and improvement.

Since the sentencing hearing, Council is working with external Health & Safety professionals with the aim of strengthening our practices and addressing the points raised.

Two of the stipulations were particularly relevant to the Chatsworth event:

• There must be clear segregation of members of the public from horse drawn carriages. At Chatsworth, the long walk from the horsebox park to the collecting ring has members of the public using the same track/roadway.
• The implications and risks associated with other activities running at the same venue alongside Society events must be fully assessed and should not cause distress to equines which could result in them behaving unpredictably. Clearly, at Chatsworth there are many elements of the Country Fair, including the shooting and the archery, which could impact our event.

Over the last month, the Show Committee and I have been working with the organisers of Chatsworth Country Fair and their Health & Safety consultant, in the hope of being able to mitigate and de-risk the above two points. Unfortunately, no solution has been identified to either point.

In parallel, alternate venues have been looked at to run our Championship event, one in particular looked like a possibility and planning was progressing. Unfortunately, late on Thursday evening due to a number of factors it was agreed that this was not a viable option.

Yesterday, Saturday 27^th July, Council made the really difficult decision to cancel this year’s Championship event.  The timing of the decision was dictated by our significant efforts and hopes that we could continue to run at Chatsworth, or if not that we were able to run the event elsewhere.

This very disappointing decision was made for all the right reasons; to ensure the safety of our members and the public, to adhere with Health & Safety Executive legislation, and to protect the future of the Society.

Subsequent to yesterday’s announcement, I am pleased to advise that we are exploring further options to run the Trec Championship, and we will keep you fully updated on how these progress.

Should you require any further information please feel free to contact me, in the first instance through the BDS Office.