I have been told by South Cheshire Advanced Motorcyclists (SCAM) that although the price of the IAM advanced training course has gone up to £139, SCAM will still only charge the old price of £109 to any PMC member that wants to take up the training and pays SCAM before the end of April. PMC Committee members have agreed that we will continue to use club funds to fully subsidise the cost of advanced training this year provided that any interested club member gets approval from the Committee first before booking on the course. 

So if you are interested here’s how it works: firstly contact me, Paul Curran, on 0790 558 5852, so that I can keep a tally of how many people are applying (we can’t afford to pay for every club member to do the training so it’s first come first served). I’ll be able to give you an answer straight away and if the answer is yes you can then go ahead and contact the SCAM people: either Chris Steel, Chief Observer, on 01606 853502, or Bob Morris, Senior Observer, on 01270 766384, who will then explain how you join and how you pay etc. YOU MUST CONTACT THESE SCAM PEOPLE DIRECT, IF YOU CONTACT THE IAM YOU WILL NOT GET THE TRAINING AT THE OLD PRICE. Remember to tell Chris or Bob that you are from PMC to get the old price. 

When you have completed the training and taken and passed your advanced test you then present your pass certificate (not your course attendance certificate) to a committee member to get back your £109. 

So in short, get permission, pay up front, pass the test and get your money back. I can recommend it, I’ve taken the course with SCAM and I’m very impressed with them. Good blokes and ladies, good riders and good teachers, and they use some cracking routes for the observed sessions so you have a good ride-out every time as well. They are all volunteers so as a courtesy you should bung them a tenner for each session to cover the cost of their petrol. 

If you are not bothered about receiving the subsidy you can of course contact the SCAM people without speaking to me, just be aware that if you don’t speak to me you won’t get any subsidy. 

And remember, you have to pay for the course before the end of April. 

Go on, you know you want to. 

Paul Curran.