IAM Lincolnshire Christmas Catch Up

Dear Member

When we wrote last year’s Christmas Catch Up, we were looking forward to life post pandemic and a return to normality. At that time none of us foresaw that 2022 would bring a war on mainland Europe, with the resultant impact on energy costs, together with a cost of living crisis and a subsequent winter of discontent.

Despite all these events, we are pleased to report that this year has been another very successful one for IAM Lincolnshire. At the start of the year we set ourselves a target of 50 test passes and we are pleased to say we achieved exactly 50 and we go into next year with some 30 associates still in training.

Our PCC Young Driver scheme finished in March, with 87 candidates having passed their Advanced Driving Course. Not only will these 87 young people be safer on our roads, but their passengers and other road users around them will also be safer.

We are pleased to say that one of these young drivers, Thomas Holm-Johansen, went on the qualify as an observer and is now a member of our observer team. In addition to that, he recently qualified as one of 12 young people nationally to take part in the UK competition to be crowed the European FIA Best Young Driver. This involved spending the day at William F1 HQ and competing on their simulators.

We have now negotiated another agreement with the PCC and IAM for a further 50 courses for young drivers, and our thanks goes to Marc Jones for his continuing support.

Our AGM in June was well attended and we were delighted to have Richard Gladman, IAM Head of Driving and Riding Standards, as our guest speaker. At the recent IAM National AGM we were delighted to hear Stuart Donald, IAM Chairman, give our group a special mention in recognition of our ongoing achievements.

Our success and subsequent recognition would not have been possible without the support and hard work of our committee and observer team, so a big thank you to each and every one who contributed to our performance. We would also like to thank our examiners for all their support and commitment throughout the year and for the timely way they have conducted our tests. It is a great help to have the time between test ready and test as short as possible.

As a committee we are very grateful for all the support we receive from our members. Without your support we would not be able to achieve our charitable aims to reduce the number of killed and seriously injured on our roads by making people better drivers. You are our best ambassadors, please use every opportunity to promote the good work that we do to family, friends or work colleagues. If every member could encourage just one person to take an Advanced Driving Course it would have a tremendous impact on road safety in Lincolnshire.

Like the rest of the IAM, we were shocked to hear the very sad news of the unexpected passing of Pete Serhatlic, IAM’s Regional Service Delivery Manager earlier this month. Over the past few years we worked closely with Pete and valued his guidance and support. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues. A Just Giving page has been set up for donations to the British Heart Foundation in Pete’s memory. Donations can be made here.

Looking forward to 2023 we are conscious that there is a great deal of uncertainty around at present and peoples discretionary spend budgets will be under pressure. However, we believe that as volunteers the training we offer through our Advanced Driving Course represents excellent value and definitely makes better drivers.

Our very best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all our members, committee and observers. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2023.

Roger Hicks and Ashley Behan
On behalf of the IAM Lincolnshire Committee

IAM Lincolnshire
0300 365 0152
www.iamlincolnshire.com

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