Bikers on charity ride 'snubbed' by Lyme Regis B&Bs (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

Bikers on charity ride 'snubbed' by Lyme Regis B&Bs

4:07pm Thursday 2nd July 2009

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A POPULAR summer event may be forced to pull out of Lyme Regis after participants say they were snubbed by local guesthouses.

Some bikers taking part in the Coast to Coast motorcycle run were made to feel ‘unwelcome’ at the event on the weekend, according to the organisers.

For 25 years, bikers have flocked to Lyme Regis to begin the annual road trip to Weston Super Mare to raise money for charity.

But regular participants had no choice but to miss this year because they were turned away from some B&Bs who refused to offer a single-night stay.

Organisers say it is becoming almost ‘impossible’ to hold the event at Lyme and fear more even bikers will abandon next year’s run.

Dick Dampier, event organiser and secretary of the Westland Classic Motorcycle Club in Yeovil, said: “It is making it very hard, if not impossible, for people who have to come a distance and are looking for one night’s accommodation.

“It just seems to us they are chopping off their noses to spite their faces by not accepting us for one night. They have been loyal customers to these establishments over the years.”

Mr Dampier said the problems started last year when a group of three pensioners tried to get an overnight stay, which he said ‘caused no end of trouble’.

“It turned out that three men had to share a room and were charged £95 each for the privilege, which is rather steep,” he said.

“For these guys, who are all in their late 60s and 70s, the only way they can do the event is if they stay the night. They are too old to travel all that distance, take part in the day and travel back home again and they can’t afford to stay the weekend.”

Mr Dampier said the pensioners decided to stay away this year because of the hassle. He added: “A whole group from Swindon said this may well be their last year because the place they stayed at indicated they really wouldn’t entertain a single night booking next time.

“They really didn’t want to do it for them this year either.”

David Parker, chairman of the Lyme Regis Hotel and Restaurant Association, said accommodation owners need to look out for their best interests in this financial climate.

He said: “Over the weekends particularly it’s not economical for them to do one night and miss out the following night.

“Most people want to have the weekend and that is what they specialise in so it’s not an issue we can address really easily. We don’t do it to be awkward. Life is tougher now. We have a mound of legislation put on us and high costs and I think people have to run their businesses profitably and as successfully as they can for their own futures.”

Mr Parker said in future, the bikers should try the hotels, which have ‘more scope’, or book two nights. “They can really make a visit of it rather than just having an overnight stay,” he said.

Mr Dampier said they would continue to launch the run from Lyme ‘at the moment’ but did not rule out looking elsewhere in future.

“It’s just a shame people aren’t more understanding,” he said. “These guys are all retired, they have been coming down year after year and now they feel unwelcome.”

Mr Dampier said otherwise Lyme Regis was ‘very hospitable’ and crowds of people lined the streets in support to see the 218 bikers and 100 marshals setting off.

They were sent on their way by town crier Phil Street and town mayor Michaela Ellis. The run raises money for brain injury society Headway Somerset and organisers hope to match the £5,000 made last year.

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