this is an e mail I got from my Rat pack Leader in Wales written by RAT coordinator
Hello all
Some of you will have been hearing rumours regarding R.A.T. and my position as R.A.T. coordinator, and I would like to clarify exactly what is happening.
For those of you who do not know I am soon to be made redundant from Triumph. I still haven’t officially been made redundant and I was waiting until this was official for me to announce this to you all, but the R.A.T. drums have been banging and rumours have been flying so I thought it was time to explain what is happening.
Last week Triumph announced to me that the R.A.T. UK coordinator position was being made redundant and I am at risk of also being made redundant. I am currently in what's called the consultation period, which is the time Triumph legally has to give me to warn me that I may be made redundant. I don’t exactly know when the official announcement will be but it should be in the next couple of weeks.
A coordinator is now not required any more because of the lack work. All membership administration is done on the website by the members, National Raids will finish after this year, this is because they take a lot of time and effort to put together but only reach a couple of hundred members a year. The Torque (Triumph) magazine will be put together by a professional publishing house, so there will be nothing for me to write every quarter, and all Pack Leaders and dealers will soon get a login and a password to add events direct on to the Triumph website.
Dealers will now be solely responsible running the Packs and dealers that do run a Pack will still receive more bonuses at the end of the year from those who don’t. The dealers will now be monitored and motivated by the area sales managers.
For those who have already booked the Dragon, Highlands and the EOSP, these will still be going ahead. I'm not sure who will be coordinating these but Bobin is the obvious choice.
Some of you will think this is the end of R.A.T. and with that attitude it will be, you need to carry on with what your doing keep the Packs running successfully like they are now. It’s a shame about the national Raids but there's nothing stopping one of the Packs arranging the 08 Dragon Raid, they just need to book somewhere like Ruthin castle, email all the Pack Leaders and Dealers advertising the event. Put the event onto the website and advertise through the dealer, you would easily fill it. The association is still a very important part of Triumph. Just yesterday Bruno Tagliaferri stood up in front of the dealer network and showed figures of how much more likely an active R.A.T. member was to buy another Triumph and recommend their dealer then someone who isn’t involved with R.A.T..
Triumph have been excellent to me in the way they have handled this, they delayed this announcement to me due to the birth of Hayden and Christmas, although there's never a good time to tell someone they’re losing their job. They have been very good with trying to find me something within the company although there's nothing currently available and they are being very fair with paying me what is owed. I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing at the moment, I am applying for various jobs and I've also thought about going on my own which is something I've always wanted to do. I have absolutely no issues or problems with Triumph, and this has not put me off the brand whatsoever, I am looking forward to hunting around for a cheap 595 with high level carbon can.
As I say there's nothing officially announced yet, I just wanted to stop the rumours and hopefully put some of your minds at rest about the situation with R.A.T..
I have tried to copy all Pack Leaders and some of the regular R.A.T. members. Please do not be offended if you are reading this second hand, I don’t have everyone’s email address, and I could have easily missed someone off.
I have made loads of very good friends within R.A.T. since I joined in 2003 and I will do my best to keep in touch. When I get my 595 I will be joining in with various Pack events and I will do my best to get to the Dragon, Highlands and EOSP, this time as a customer!!!
Kind Regards
Ben Gray
Riders Association of Triumph
