Not going to the S100 in July this year Steve. Booked to go to the Classic/Manx again so hopefully(fingers crossed) I'll be over for that.
That's a shame. I managed to book my ferry tonight. Going from Heysham on Friday and returning to Liverpool on Tue 7th. I've got to attend hospital on June 8th. No fun being a demic is it ? Still, if anyone wants to meet up, give me a shout.
I remember talking to a Police officer with a Sierra Cosworth at Ballaugh bridge 1994 TT and we had a great chat. I asked him how fast his car was and what would happen if we overtook him over the mountain? He said nothing would happen if you were safe and not crossing white lines. Fast forward to 2010, I caught a BMW X5 police car up and I was well over 120 mph , the drivers arm came out of the window and waved me past
I was coming out of Ballaugh one year on my GSXR1100 obeying the 30 limit obviously. Got to about 20 yards from the national sign so started accelerating and a copper jumped out of the hedgerow like Rambo with his speed gun There was absolutely no sign of him until he shot out! Can't have got me as I never heard anything
This happened to my mate in exactly the same spot on his GPZ900R early one morning. They took his details, gave him a summons and a small map of Douglas showing the exact location of the magistrates court and told him to report there the following morning and advised him to get there early. He got there at 07:30 and there were people queueing down the street waiting! He was fined, can't remember how much but thankfully no points put on his English licence. A guy staying in our digs was caught doing well over 100 mph into the 30 zone at Kirk Michael. He went to court, got fined and banned, then they took him back to the digs, watched him pack and escorted him to the ferry terminal, his holiday was over! Fortunately for him the ban didn't apply on the UK mainland although I think that may have changed now? Back in the 80's/90's, Police from UK forces used to go over on secondment to help the Manx Police cope with the huge temporary increase in population the TT brings, not sure if that still happens though.
I don't know for sure but I think this secondment still exists. I was talking to a police rider at the Creg 2010/2011 and he was from England. He was about same height as me, 5'7" and on a fully kitted work bike and I asked wasn't it a handful parking and slow traffic. Watching him pick it up off the sidestand on a slope when he had to go looked a right struggle and I offered assistance. A side note to this chat; An incident ocurred just before Kates cottage and I asked if that was a shout for him. He responded with "we are not allowed to go against the course direction so someone posted at the Bungalow would have to respond." Not the incident mentioned above but there was an unfortunate lad who had a head on with another bike (there was a video on youtube or somewhere and used by the Police with family permission IIRC) apparently was totally innocent and his only mistake was taking the mountain route in reverse!!! I wonder if this prompted that or the decision had already been put in place prior. I told our group if its applied by the Police for them then I've no intention of not applying the notion myself and think it wise for us to not go the wrong direction.
We never felt comfortable going in the "wrong" direction round the course, particularly over the mountain. To get to the Creg from Douglas we always took the coast road to Laxey, then turn off onto back roads. We once came across an accident at the Verandah, on a non race day, with the emergency services in attendance where two bikes had met head on. There where 4 pieces of bike with a wheel on each piece, smoking debris everywhere and two bodies with sheets over them. A very sobering sight.
I was going Northwards into Ballaugh with my mate riding pillion. It may have been Mad Sunday but anyway there were plenty of spectators. I must have been a tad too enthusiastic because this rather rotund rozzer steps out onto the crown of the bridge with his hand up indicating that I should come to a stop. He’s lucky that I had fitted the TLS front brake by this time otherwise it could have been he that physically stopped us I was then instructed to turn the bike around and go back to the 30 limit sign and return at a speed commensurate with the speed limit. You can imagine the cat calls, shouts of derision, whistles etc that this brought forth from the gallery of spectators. So we did as instructed, to cheers from the gallery, but unknown to me at the time my pillion passenger was giving the rozzer enthusiastic victory signs as we crested the bridge accompanied by the unmistakable resonance of the Dunstall Megas I had on the bike. This was the first stop of the week with the second on Douglas Prom being asked if I would like to go home at the end of the week, of course officer, “If you carry on like that sonny it will be in a box” and the third whilst riding through the Mersey Tunnel on the way home. Good times.
We did. When I think back to the memorable moments in my brief presence on this planet I am really pleased that it wasn’t in a different time zone and feel saddened for the youngsters of today. A snapshot of those moments include:- My first flight in a commercial airliner was in an aircraft that almost certainly dropped airborne troops in Normandy on D Day. Watching the first jet airliner on its approach to London Airport, now Heathrow. Watching Nikita Khrushchev and Yuri Gagarin ride along the Great West Road in an open limo from Heathrow to the city The first moon landing. I still have the three Sunday Times colour supplements containing stunning photos taken during the mission. Avidly following, with great pride, the progress of our troops reinstating British sovereignty in the Falklands. During the second half of my career my security clearances provided access to most of the properties in the Whitehall estate and elsewhere. But that’s just the ramblings of an old codger.
There are virtually no secondments now, a lot of Police Officers permanently transfer to the IOM, the majority of the force is made up from outside the IOM. There is no leeway going into a 30/40/50mph limit, however going out of say a 30 limit to a 50 or unrestricted section and providing it is within a short distance of the sign you will not be prosecuted. It is correct to say back in the day there was no "reciprocal arrangement" with the UK, for a ban or points to go on your licence, for the past few years it has been aligned and points or a ban apply in the UK, the same goes for Northern Ireland, however for Southern Ireland no reciprocal arrangements are in place, therefore no points or ban applies in the UK. Back in the day a lot of TT competitors rode their machines and outfits down public roads (back of the pits to Douglas) to their digs, as often they had a garage to work in, not like today with large motorhomes and huge tents for working on their bikes or outfits. There are a lot of green lanes in the IOM, and they have a more relaxed approach than the UK, some fantastic routes and trail bike rentals so it's really accessible. When I first visited the IOM they still had the "Birch", any serious offence and you appeared in Court from the Police cells, and invariably sentenced to X amount of lashes. I can recall vividly, whilst on the ferry a young Scottish man had been drinking onboard, he attacked another passenger (I did not witness this as I was on deck), the Police were waiting when the ferry docked, he was arrested and taken away. A few days later the local paper had the headline "whimpering wreck breaks down after 6 lashes of the Birch", a few days later he was medically declared fit to receive the other 6 lashes, after he recovered he was escorted to the ferry with a lifetime ban from entering the IOM. The European Court was responsible for the demise of the "Birch". Ride safe all from an ageing Rocker.
Super interesting, e@Pegscraper! Do you know the name of that documentary and if it’s available somewhere or on some service? I’d love to see it.
I don't remember this happening but I do remember hearing about the story of the bikes sinking sometime in the last few years since I started paying attention. Neat story...grand that they reclaimed them.
I remember seeing one of the Birches in museum on the island. What a frightening thing it was! Cannot imagine having that slapped across my backside
I knew it was usually 6 of the best but a dozen makes me shudder at the thought. My secondary school was all boys and the head was a stickler for discipline. Eventually I ended up in his study and it was one on each hand with the cane, with the warning “if you take it away boy it will be 6”. Well for the first one you have no idea what it’s going to feel like so you just hold out your hand to the side of you. Try it and you will see that the first point of impact is the middle joint of your thumb. When you hold out the other hand you will have drastically altered the attitude of your hand I cannot begin to describe the pain so to be flogged a dozen times is beyond my comprehension.
It's called "TT 80 Years on" and was made at the '86 event and aired while the '87 event was on, I remember it coming on the TV when we were sat in the digs. The sinking of the fishing boat carrying the bikes actually happened in '85. I still have the film on VHS (remember them!) but unfortunately the player /recorder got cobbed years ago Thankfully it's here on the tube. Plenty of names and faces from the past.
Iceman, yes, things must have changed a lot over the decades and you've had a front row seat to it. Would love to see some of your pics "from back in the day."
Has anyone subscribed to TT+ live for less than £15. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, if you can get an internet connection your good to go. https://ttplus.iomttraces.com › When I arrived home from the IOM yesterday at about 16.30 hrs one of the first things I did was to subscribe and I watched last night's qualifying. Not only is there practice/qualifying/races live there's recordings of interviews with the riders.
There are virtually no secondments now, a lot of Police Officers permanently transfer to the IOM, the majority of the force is made up from outside the IOM. There is no leeway going into a 30/40/50mph limit, however going out of say a 30 limit to a 50 or unrestricted section and providing it is within a short distance of the sign you will not be prosecuted. It is correct to say back in the day there was no "reciprocal arrangement" with the UK, for a ban or points to go on your licence, for the past few years it has been aligned and points or a ban apply in the UK, the same goes for Northern Ireland, however for Southern Ireland no reciprocal arrangements are in place, therefore no points or ban applies in the UK. Back in the day a lot of TT competitors rode their machines and outfits down public roads (back of the pits to Douglas) to their digs, as often they had a garage to work in, not like today with large motorhomes and huge tents for working on their bikes or outfits. There are a lot of green lanes in the IOM, and they have a more relaxed approach than the UK, some fantastic routes and trail bike rentals so it's really accessible. When I first visited the IOM they still had the "Birch", any serious offence and you appeared in Court from the Police cells, and invariably sentenced to X amount of lashes. I can recall vividly, whilst on the ferry a young Scottish man had been drinking onboard, he attacked another passenger (I did not witness this as I was on deck), the Police were waiting when the ferry docked, he was arrested and taken away. A few days later the local paper had the headline "whimpering wreck breaks down after 6 lashes of the Birch", a few days later he was medically declared fit to receive the other 6 lashes, after he recovered he was escorted to the ferry with a lifetime ban from entering the IOM. The European Court was responsible for the demise of the "Birch". Ride safe all from an ageing Rocker. Hi Martine I will post some on as soon as I can, last night the TT brought both the excitement and heartache in equal measures, with the loss of Mark Purslow, 29, from Wales, he was killed in an incident during the fourth qualifying session of the races. The accident occurred at Ballagarey, before the fourth mile marker, on his third lap of the session. My thoughts are with his family and friends, Mark was an experienced racer, he competed in the Pre TT Classics, MGP and made his TT debut a couple of years back. Ride safe all.
Not quite the same in NI unless it's changed since 2016 when I got pulled on the A37 at the NW200. I had to post my English licence to Belfast (did't have it on me at the time) together with a cheque for the £65 fine, then they created a NI paper licence on which they put the points but my English licence remained clean. Running a check on my English licence with the DVLA didn't show any endorsments!
