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MAG meets the riders at the NEC


Visitors to the MAG stand at the NEC Motorcycle Live show have been telling our staff waht bothers them. They donʼt like the EU telling them what they can do with their bikes and they donʼt like insurance brokers telling them either – they came to the right place


Manning the stand at the NEC show is always a great way to gauge the feelings of riders from across the country and hear what is important to them, which of course, is what MAG is all about. There would be little point campaigning on something that no-one cared about. This year’s stand was bigger than it has been for many years and there was no shortage of volunteers to work it. Nich Brown and I were on site every day, but with us regularly having lengthy conversations with councillors, highway engineers, civil servants and potential corporate members, the real heroes of the show were the volunteers, many of whom used annual leave to work the stand and answer questions from show goers. There were at least four volunteers on each


day, but given the size of the stand and the volume of people traffic (14% increase on last year’s show), it meant that everyone was busy but still got some free time to see the exhibits.


Huge thanks go to the members from Wales,


West Midlands, Warwickshire, Eastern, East Anglia and even the S West, who put in time on the stand.


46 The ROAD


I think I’m right in saying it’s the first time that the MAG stand has been completely free at the Show, all costs having been covered by GET A GRIP supporters, which means that every product sold and every membership taken was a bonus. GET A GRIP was again the real draw to the stand with over a thousand riders signing the petition and was the perfect opportunity to discuss September 25th and the Euro Regulation with those riders who hadn’t heard about them.


Many had heard of September 25th of course, which is why some riders approached the stand to simply shake hands with the volunteers and put money in the fighting fund bucket, something that kept everyone buoyant and meant the days weren’t really too long.


During the show period, MAG signed up 173 members and one life member. Hats off to David Mollington from Banbury who is so impressed with MAG’s recent work he showed his commitment by becoming a ‘lifer’ on the last day of the show - a fantastic end to a great week and he even got a free pen!


But apart from the EU Regulation and GET


A GRIP, what were the other issues that riders wanted to talk about?


Current Hot Topics and other news


By the number of enquiries received at the MAG stand, the most recent topic of interest concerning riders, aside from the way MAG had managed to get 40,000 riders to demonstrate about the Euro regulation, is the idea that an insurance company will invalidate your cover if you have three or more ‘modifications’ on your bike. What’s of interest is what constitutes a modification and whether or not insurance companies are gearing up to somehow coincide with what they believe to be the outcome of the EU Regulation we are currently fighting.


The company name that I kept hearing was Bennetts, who are in fact a broker selling policies and not an actual insurer. One IAM instructor listed a hugger, handguards and a

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