It certainly did set new records alright. Hundreds of people left unpaid or out of pocket, the event organisers falling out and blaming each other and I smell somthing in the air and it isnt steam.
Arthur Harris has posted this statement on http://www.tractiontalkforum.com/
Harris Said:
Gentlemen
I am a Director of Events and Exhibitions Limited, the organisers of this years rally at Pickering.
There are many rumours and posts many of which are total fiction. This is as I see it.
I know nothing about steam or events and have lost considerable sums, however I (and my family) invested in Simon Boak through Events and Exhibitions, he brought his previous team with him, some of whom work like crazy and deserve so much more.
He was paid by the company and he had complete autonomy for running the office from an organisational point of view and the total organisation of this years rally at Pickering.
The only parts I personally became involved in were as follows: the money/cash collections (due to the problems from previous years), the hiring of the bars and part of the gate security (where there had been some issues previously), apart from that Mr Boak organised the whole event.
Mr Boak was tasked to produce budget sheets, which he did, but as I do not know or understand steam events these were presented as totals rather than individual figures and names which would have meant little to me. His budgets showed it would have been a worthwhile event commercially.
However when I asked him on Thursday how much the exact payouts would be for the Sunday I was told "absolute maximum £160,000". I thought that was slightly high but nevertheless acceptable and do-able.
He repeated that figure to me at various times and throughout the weekend the show infrastructure (ie people who make a living from shows, security, electricians, toilets, water, etc etc) were paid.
My wife who was manning the cash office kept asking Boak for the final payout lists which were never forthcoming so on Saturday she started compiling her own list from people who had either been paid or by then were known to want monies. Boak had also by then produced a list of engine men and attractions which needed paying. His list came to £89,000.
At 1am Sunday morning when I was dealing with an incident on the main gate my wife called me and said that she had just finished compiling the list and there was a massive problem in that it wasnt £160k to pay out but more like £300,000.
The event takings were as follows approximately: £40k Thursday, £40k Friday, £95k Saturday and £50k Sunday. (Total £225k).
Obviously decisions had to be made at that point.
SB was contacted early Sunday and went to the office but his only solution was to pay some of the engine men and not others but this still was not going to solve the problem. (Unfortunately two of the main ones had already been paid) (One engine man also told me that his amount included £2500 from last years event which obviously I had nothing to do with!)
I made a decision that the people who rely on the event for a living (ie the show infrastructure) should be paid first, mostly that had been done on previous days anyway.
I also said that I was not prepared to let all the lads and girls, who have worked all weekend for the event to go ahead, not to get paid. I did not have their hours or timesheets at that point.
Therefore I had to keep some monies back to ensure they got paid. My wife wanted to make a statement whilst still on site and with the help of two very loyal supporters she did that to an audience of understandably angry engine men and attraction suppliers.
I left the site with all remaining monies, some £30k to cover their wages. They will be paid out today.
If there is anything left over following that I will try my hardest to distribute it fairly. There is also some monies still due in from credit card payments that too will be added to the figure for distribution, as will any assets that the business has once they are sold.
Unfortunately I cannot afford to put more monies into this business and therefore am cancelling all further events that it was intending to run with immediate effect. My association with Simon Boak (despite a text from him timed at 6.30pm Sunday night saying "he didnt know what all the fuss was about" and wanting to meet this morning) is terminated with immediate effect.
Please accept my sincere apologies for what has happened.
I will just leave this thought with you: Simon Boak can organise a good show but at what cost? believe me there are many people from over the years asking that very same question! I was warned and didnt heed that warning - a bad mistake that has left myself and my family devastated and some £120k out of pocket.
Simon Boak, who had been working with Harris responded with:
I have just read the post from Arthur Harris. There are facts missing and I will be putting a datailed post on this afternoon with ALL THE FULL DETAILS.
Simon Boak.
The two then had a very public to and fro rip at each other, if behind a members only forum which you can join and get the full jobbie at the web address above.
As somone else said - better than EastEnders!
Boak also added:
PICKERING TRACTION ENGINE RALLY 2009
EVENT BUDGET
The budget for the Pickering Traction Engine Rally 2009 was set in a meeting at West End Garage, Scarborough, with Richard Ashworth, Andrew Dunce, Dominic Keene, Simon Boak and Arthur Harris all present The budget was set and signed off at £273,218.45p. There was no provision for the site rent as the future ownership of the showground was in doubt and the First Aid had been missed out. Arthur Harris later agreed a rent of £55,000.
PAYOUTS
The payouts for the weekend were inflated as none of the infastructure had been paid prior to the show otherwise it was as I had stated.
Simon Boak.
