uktrackdays.co.uk and focused events
Posted: Apr 22nd, '10, 07:53
Focused Events launch dirty tricks campaign in Track Days market Track Days allow people to take their own cars or motorbikes for a day's driving on their favourite circuit, in a fun and safe environment. There are a wide variety of agents who operate and sell these events. All work in relative harmony to ensure everyone is having a good time, but it would appear that one Track Day organiser, 'Focused Events,' has become hell-bent on disrupting this harmony by deploying bully tactics against fellow agents - all in an attempt to reap the profits for themselves. We spoke to a representative from UKtrackdays.co.uk, who are a non-biased agency and portal for people to book track day events through a wide variety of organisers. They showed us an email that has been sent around from Focused Events prompting customers to 'Save this website into your favourites instead of UKTD (uktrackdays.co.uk) because there is no need to pay extra!' - and suggesting that uktrackdays.co.uk charge booking fees to customers to book their events. In actuality, Uktrackdays.co.uk do not put any mark up on their prices. Their margin is taken as a commission from the organiser, as a fee for displaying their dates, so has no bearing on the price to the customer. Uktrackdays.co.uk were recently contacted by Focused Events, who said they would only allow uktrackdays.co.uk to sell their events if they added £10 to the price. Uktrackdays.co.uk subsequently ceased advertising Focused Events days, and now refuse to sell them to their customers. Incidentally the email that Focused Events had sent suggested they could lower their prices by not using uktrackdays.co.uk, but that has not proved to be the case. Another Track Days organiser has also been in touch with Uktrackdays.co.uk, claiming to have received a call from Focused Events, threatening that if he did not stop advertising his events on uktrackdays.co.uk, Focused Events would run 'free' events either side of his in order to stop him getting any bookings. Unfortunately it appears a handful of organisers have succumbed to Focused Events' bullying tactics and pulled their events from the uktrackdays.co.uk listings. Uktrackdays.co.uk has recently received feedback from customers who attended Focused Events track days, claiming the staff were rude and unhelpful, and that they had been prompted by Focused Events staff to stop using uktrackdays.co.uk and book directly with Focused Events instead. "For over five years we have worked with most of the major track day providers, who have all been happy paying a small commission for us to market," said the representative from Uktrackdays.co.uk. "Their events appeal to a wider audience. As we do not run our own events we need to trust the organisers we use and be sure our customers are not ripped off and have a great day out. Since Focused Events have tried to dominate and bully the market, and after hearing feedback from customers, it is obvious their focus is purely on making more money, so we are not prepared to use them anymore." Focused Events director Kevin Healy boasts on his site that his business is based upon 'a safety first and financial gain second basis'. However his recent behaviour suggests financial gain is his primary motivation. We at Motorsport.co.uk simply do not condone this kind of behaviour and take our helmets off to uktrackdays.co.uk for sacrificing a large percentage of their income in the interest of their customers. You can be sure the events advertised on Uktrackdays.co.uk are run by trusted organisers and offered at fair and reasonable prices, so let's hope that everyone takes our advice and steers clear of Focused Events when they want to arrange their Track Days. Date published : 11 Mar 2010 - 15:48:29
