__________________
Ashok
2002 E39 Carbonblack/Caramel M5 (best car I ever owned)
2005 E60 Blue Onyx/Caramel/Light Figured Ash M5 (worst car I ever owned)
2007 E90 Montego Blue/Black Alpina D3 (sublime) Let me tell you what SMG stands for...
I was on this year Gumball crew allong the rally.
I met Max on the road between Dubrovnik and Bratislava when he decided to cancel the rally. That was 48 h after the fatal crash and he just had a phone call of the ambassy telling that the macedonian guy was finally dead. He was more than disappointed about this horrible news...
No body knew anything before. So stop telling that the organizers made terrible mistakes. Their reaction was perfectly adapted to the situation and they couldn't do more.
This article is just an illustration of the stupidity of the journalists or the ones who don't know anything abouts the facts and couldn't wait more to spit their poison on the Gumball ! This is just discusting !
And about this former Gumballer who crashed in Morroco, he shits on things he has done personnaly !!!! So one question : What's the point about this stupid article ?
OK then Flickdabean, could you please answer these questions:
The crash happened at 1805hrs local time. Is this correct?
The man died on the way to hospital. Is this correct?
Just asking as the above two have been stated by the Macedonian Government to a contact of mine at UNDP.
Perhaps you might want to ask Max and yourself (as you were 'Crew'): the moment it was realised that a non-gumballer was injured, why did no-one from Gumball 'Crew' go to the hospital? To answer the asinine question of "well what would that have achieved?", the answer is that G3K should have guarenteed top rate medical care (even though the surgeons in Macedonia are good, patients do not have access to modern drugs without paying for it).
Even if what Julie has been saying on various forums is true, and that Nick was not at fault (and I pray that this is true) and will be declared not guilty at some future stage, even if that means that G3K is not legally liable, they are morally liable.
As you will have seen on several threads, most peoples' anger is not directed at Max and Julie because Nick Morley had a crash. It was the way in which it was dealt with, and how the relatives of the deceased, Gumballers, et al have been treated.
Max and Julie had 9 years to get their response right. They were either too stupid or too greedy to spend the time and money planning for such an eventuality.
So where was Max's local designated agent should something like this happen? Was there such a person designated for every country that Gumball passed through? Did Gumballers have Max's phone number, or of the number of someone to call in each and every country for when the brown stuff hit the fan? Even if such a person existed, why were the lines of communication so crap?
Did G3K have insurance against this? Not only to protect their own skins, but to compensate the third party?
Questions, questions, questions. They keep coming because Max and Julie have been so piss poor in answering them.
It is probable that no matter how well Gumball briefs its drivers, no matter how well it plans, accidents will still happen. The fact is that the relatives of the deceased and the participants in the Rally deserve better treatment.
Did Gumballers have Max's phone number, or of the number of someone to call in each and every country for when the brown stuff hit the fan?
Did any of us... on ANY Gumball?
If we did, what use would it be?
I had Nick W's number on the 2006 rally and tried to call him when we had our car impounded. (The Police wished to confirm the time that the Prague checkpoint closed, so they would release the car). He answered, and when I told him the situation, hung up...and NEVER answered my calls thereafter...
But thats Gumball Baby!!
__________________
____________________________________________
Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.
The only way i got their numbers was when they showed up on the Nokia screen when they were pestering me to enter and then pay the entrance fee ten days before the "Rally" started in 2005. After that nothing whatsoever!!!!!
I hope the truth stands above all speculation. But for the fees involved you'd expect the "we stand together" attitude from GBall not that which has been demonstrated so far.
So Balkan what's the point about being so upset ? This is really really sad but what is done is done...
Everybody agree that on this probably predictable case the communication sucked especially between the locals and HQ ...
And they strongly work on it in order to avoid this problem in the future. Even the rally's format itself is being studdied at the moment. Which is probably a good thing in order to manage some of the most exited Gumballers...
The Macedonian government is as responsible as HQ on this communication problem. So this is a bit too easy to s**it on them like this !
What would you have done in this situation ? For you the accident was absolutely not fatal and then ... you stop everything ? You send People to every macedonian hospital with a lot of drugs ? !!
I just want to tell you that many Gumballers was only upset about the fact the rally was canceled ! Some of them ( just a few hopefuly !) didn't really care about the ***** ! So they attaked HQ to have canceled what they paid for. So HQ is attacked on both sides !!! This is just ridiculous !
Flickdabean: are you a member of Neu Arbeit or just been watching too much 'Yes Minister'? First of all you slag off the person showing Gumball to be poorly organised and slightly arrogant. When this doesn't work you try the old "well its all in the past now and nothing can be done". Is your next post going to promise that lessons have been learnt for next year?
The remainder of your post is purile and insults the intelligence of most people who post on this forum.
You neglected to answer a single question of my previous post. You must be a New Liarbour party member.
Lack of communication is 100% Gumball's fault. End of story, no ifs, buts or whyfores. It is their fault they had no contingency plans, their fault that they had no local contacts in Macedonia to act as their agent. Do you understand yet? Trying to blame someone else is disgusting.
Your comment about stopping everything for any accident and then send people to every hospital with drugs is facetious. Gumball should have a plan in place whereby if an onlooker is harmed then Gumball steps in and guarantees the best possible medical treatment. It can be purchased as a form of liability insurance, and hooked up (by the insurer) with a company like SOS (who have a fleet of air ambulances, helicopters, jets, surgeons, etc on call). Instead of Max et al having to go to the hospital the following would happen:
Accident. Local emergency services take injured to hospital. Gumball driver in accident calls Max. Max calls local agent. Local agent discovers where the injured are and speaks to hospital administrators. Max makes call to insurance company, providing them with rough details of the accident and phone number of his local agent (if the insurance company do not already have it). Insurance company talks to agent and hospital. Injured people receive best possible medical care. Agent makes way to hospital and speaks to all parties concerned. Agent keeps Max informed. Max keeps Gumballers informed.
If you think the above is impossible, then think again: I used to set up such things about twice a year for companies operating in the Balkans (I was a regional director of an insurance company). The fact that Max and Julie couldn't be bothered to spend the relatively small amount of money that this would cost speaks volumes.
Your last comment about the Gumballers attacking Gumball are also without worth. If Max had a decent system in place, and everyone was informed prior to the start in London about what would happen in certain occurences, and if all the Gumballers were certain that Gumball was doing all it could do in the world in the event of a crash then Max probably wouldn't have to cancel the rally. Gumballers have attacked Max and Gumball HQ because they handled the situation like new age hippies on weed. A more botched and pathetic attempt at crisis management has not been seen for some years.
I too would be seriously narked off with grasping Julie if I had paid 24,000GBP for a ticket to find at the opening party someone who got in for 10,000GBP. I would then be seriously pissed off if I discovered that Max had not liaised with the local police along the way, resulting in loosing more than a day and a continent! I would then be utterly fcuked off with the organisation if someone died and Max tried covering it up, or was too incompetent to discover within 14hours that someone involved in a serious RTA at 6pm was dead by the time they reached hospital. If you had paid 24,000GBP would you not expect some ability from the organisers?
I will not be doing another Gumball. I made this decision even before this year's rally. If you want to know why, then read my posts on page 4 of "Who's in for Gumball 2007" thread. Give my regards to that lying shite Jamie van der bullshitter at Gumball HQ. Following the lies he told me, I am not surprised to see Gumball behaving in an incompetent and morally bankrupt fashion. Why am I angry? Why are so many of the Gumballers angry? Being lied to tends to piss me off.
Flickdabean: are you a member of Neu Arbeit or just been watching too much 'Yes Minister'? First of all you slag off the person showing Gumball to be poorly organised and slightly arrogant. When this doesn't work you try the old "well its all in the past now and nothing can be done". Is your next post going to promise that lessons have been learnt for next year?
The remainder of your post is purile and insults the intelligence of most people who post on this forum.
You neglected to answer a single question of my previous post. You must be a New Liarbour party member.
Lack of communication is 100% Gumball's fault. End of story, no ifs, buts or whyfores. It is their fault they had no contingency plans, their fault that they had no local contacts in Macedonia to act as their agent. Do you understand yet? Trying to blame someone else is disgusting.
Your comment about stopping everything for any accident and then send people to every hospital with drugs is facetious. Gumball should have a plan in place whereby if an onlooker is harmed then Gumball steps in and guarantees the best possible medical treatment. It can be purchased as a form of liability insurance, and hooked up (by the insurer) with a company like SOS (who have a fleet of air ambulances, helicopters, jets, surgeons, etc on call). Instead of Max et al having to go to the hospital the following would happen:
Accident. Local emergency services take injured to hospital. Gumball driver in accident calls Max. Max calls local agent. Local agent discovers where the injured are and speaks to hospital administrators. Max makes call to insurance company, providing them with rough details of the accident and phone number of his local agent (if the insurance company do not already have it). Insurance company talks to agent and hospital. Injured people receive best possible medical care. Agent makes way to hospital and speaks to all parties concerned. Agent keeps Max informed. Max keeps Gumballers informed.
If you think the above is impossible, then think again: I used to set up such things about twice a year for companies operating in the Balkans (I was a regional director of an insurance company). The fact that Max and Julie couldn't be bothered to spend the relatively small amount of money that this would cost speaks volumes.
Your last comment about the Gumballers attacking Gumball are also without worth. If Max had a decent system in place, and everyone was informed prior to the start in London about what would happen in certain occurences, and if all the Gumballers were certain that Gumball was doing all it could do in the world in the event of a crash then Max probably wouldn't have to cancel the rally. Gumballers have attacked Max and Gumball HQ because they handled the situation like new age hippies on weed. A more botched and pathetic attempt at crisis management has not been seen for some years.
I too would be seriously narked off with grasping Julie if I had paid 24,000GBP for a ticket to find at the opening party someone who got in for 10,000GBP. I would then be seriously pissed off if I discovered that Max had not liaised with the local police along the way, resulting in loosing more than a day and a continent! I would then be utterly fcuked off with the organisation if someone died and Max tried covering it up, or was too incompetent to discover within 14hours that someone involved in a serious RTA at 6pm was dead by the time they reached hospital. If you had paid 24,000GBP would you not expect some ability from the organisers?
I will not be doing another Gumball. I made this decision even before this year's rally. If you want to know why, then read my posts on page 4 of "Who's in for Gumball 2007" thread. Give my regards to that lying shite Jamie van der bullshitter at Gumball HQ. Following the lies he told me, I am not surprised to see Gumball behaving in an incompetent and morally bankrupt fashion. Why am I angry? Why are so many of the Gumballers angry? Being lied to tends to piss me off.
Gumball will/can never be the same.
The only entrants can be the following from now on.
Has-been celebs.
Broke people spending money they dont have to enter in a bid to try and "live the dream".
Rich kids with more cash than brain power.
You wont get any celebs as there agents wont allow it, and there insurance companies will never pass it (at least if they have work booked in the 6 months after the event).
The only inteligent thing here is the """Balkan express""" idea of a third person insurrance. Yeah this sould have been in the Gumball for a while...
for sure ...
After this, guys come on !!! Seriously !!! Put posts on other forums, forget about Gumball and please take it easy !!! You hate Gumball ? This is your choice ! Personnaly I hate soccer so I don't even speak or think about it !!! This is a good example to follow !!!
A good advice: Take some vaccation and forget about all this !! All your anger, frustration etc etc !!! You're in good health aparently so enjoy it ! There are 1000 interesting things to do !
Every body can make mistake and you have to take that into account ! You guys even did a big one: being interested in an event that doesn't suite you ... In this case turn the page and go for any other awesome events !
Cheeeeers !!!
__________________
2007 Gumball Crew
Last edited by Flickdabean; 19th May 2007 at 04:31.
Linear Mode
