“Misguided” French Court Verdict in SCGB Case

The Ski Club of Great Britain's (SCGB's) Chief Executive Frank McCusker has branded a French appeal court decision in favour of the Ecole de Ski Français (ESF) and against the Ski Club as, "misguided and inappropriate."

"This is the outcome we expected but we still believe it to be misguided and inappropriate. We will continue our fight and we will be launching a further appeal in the French Criminal Supreme Court in Paris," said Mr McCusker who was commenting after Ski Club of Great Britain leader Ken Piddlesden was unsuccessful in turning around the original court's decision at an initial appeal hearing in Chambéry.

Supported by the Ski Club, Piddlesden attended the Court of Appeal in Chambery on 30th March 2016, where, on his behalf, his lawyer presented the case for his defence.

The appeal was immediately launched by the Ski Club after the initial judgement in the lower court in Albertville which found Club leader Ken Piddlesden in contravention to Art.L.212-1 of the French Code du Sport in January 2015.

The Ski Club contends that Mr Piddlesden was a volunteer so did not have to meet teaching qualifications of paid instructors in France, the French case is that he was effectively paid so does have to abide by their law.

"As Ski Club leaders are non-remunerated volunteers the club continues to maintain the action is misguided and inappropriate," a statement on behalf of the Ski Club reads.

It is one of three similar but different cases currently working their way through the French and potentially European court system involving British people leading, hosting, guiding or teaching in some way British people on French ski slopes without the qualifications the French government say they must have.

Along with saying they have not broken the law, most argue that the French rules in any case contravene European law in their opinion.

At the appeal in the SCGB case a further €800 of damages has been awarded in favour of each of the Ecole de Ski Français (ESF) associations involved. The legal reasoning behind this decision will be given in the written judgement to follow.

The Ski Club of Great Britain, on behalf of Ken Piddlesden will seek to launch a further appeal in a higher court in Paris and in due course his lawyer will also be lodging an official complaint with the European Commission on his behalf. A request to the appeal court in Chambéry to refer the case to the European Court of Justice was refused.

This is the French ski school system "at it" again. It is back-firing as non-French ski schools gradually are moving their businesses out of France.

However this post is about voluntary assistance. Where else in the world could you be taken to task for volunteering? Three years back, in Wengen, our group attended the TO daily group ski. This is the only time I have done this, but given the complexities of the Jungfrau region, it made sense. At the start of every session, it was made clear that there was no instruction, but only route guidance. The TO group were very methodical, one leading to indicate the route, and at least two staying at the back.

I doubt that a year could go by, where if I did in France, what I do in Austria, I would be arrested by the French police. Every season I am asked by individuals for assistance. Most times I am happy to assist, the individual makes good progress, I enjoy helping. On many occasions I then point the individuals towards ski school lessons. My local ski school sees it, and does not object.
I even gave a couple of morning privates in Colorado this season. Two instructors mentioned they liked my methods. No aggression from them.
I should add that no money changes hands, although I did once receive a cup of hot chocolate, gratis. I have no shame....

The British Ski Academy are moving out of Les Houches to Pila for a similar reason (GB race instructors seemingly don't cut it). Whilst I fully support the French stance on the need to protect professionals and their hard won qualifications be they ski instructors / mountain guides etc. their means of administering rules is always frustrating. Just like the EU they feel like overly bureaucratic and protectionist in a world that is becoming increasingly open. Championing openness and consumer good whilst at the same time replacing trade tariffs with often nonsensical rules and regulations to have the same affect is not always progressive.

On this one though having taken the decision of requiring a level 3 qualification they have little option but to take such a stance. The cost, commitment of attaining this is non-comparable with the Level 1 or 2 that is accepted throughout the rest of the world. Essentially meaning that ski instructors are journey men and women who has trained from an early age vs. a few week course in Canada before you are unleashed on the public. Now you can debate over the link between the ability to ski fast and instruct but there is no doubting the link between technique and being able to ski fast. Naturally which side of the fence you sit largely has everything to do with your perception of how is affects you personally.

On this one I am inclined to give them the benefit of doubt.

I'm all in favour of open competition - more choice of ski schools for customers and it keeps a lid on prices. Of course every case needs to be judged on its own merits. Maybe the French are protecting French interests here, I don't know. However, I will say that this year I witnessed some very poor instruction by English instructors working for different ski schools, in particular the ones in charge of teenage school groups. These instructors looked to be hardly much older than the teenagers they were in charge of. I'm sure they all had the necessary qualifications to teach but there was a general lack of attention to the skier's code, with these groups yahooing around the mountain regardless of other people. I had quite a few "near misses", including a youngster skiing over the back of my skis due to his mis-timed turn. We also saw several collisions at speed, simply caused by these youngsters skiing out of control. One young lady barrelled into a queue of people waiting for a lift. Her instructor was far behind her. I'm just saying that maybe some ski schools are being tempted to employ some fairly "green" instructors, due to the amount of demand for lessons. Perhaps in some cases, standards are not quite as high as they should be.

I imagine it will get even more tricky vis-à-vis the French regulatory regime if the UK decides to vote "leave" ! ;)

We put our son in an ESF school in Morzine in March. We took him out after 3 days as the school were putting it bluntly useless. I wonder if it's the reputation of the ESF being unhelpful with non-French (rude, unhelpful and favouring the French children, which is exactly what I saw) that has seen numbers drop and now they are looking at apportioning blame onto others.

Maybe this isn't the case, but after what I witnessed with my boy, I will never put him with them again.

I fully support the SCGB in their fight here. This should never have made it to court and is in absolutely no one's interests. The ESF are shooting at their own feet when it comes to British ski tourists.

I've skied briefly with the SCGB in Whistler during the past couple of seasons. If they were engaging in teaching, then the ESF would have an understandable reason to protect their interests and those of their members/employees. However, no teaching happens. No one who has ever enjoyed SCGB's hosted group skiing could ever claim it to be remotely similar to teaching. The groups are hosted by volunteers who have clearly had group safety training.

Hosted organized group skiing serve several practical, safety, and social purposes for all types of skier, especially if you are skiing without a partner or your partner happens to be taking a lesson (who knows, perhaps with an ESF school?). The host often recommends various programs offered by the ski schools and has the contacts to send them a lot of business.

In Canada and the US, ski hosting by TO's and organizations like SCGB is embraced as a business development opportunity. In fact, many ski hills operate an almost identical free hosting service on a drop in basis. One assumes they don't do this solely out of the goodness of their hearts.

ESF seem to be objecting to the concept of semi-formally organized social group skiing. That is essentially what the SCGB offers.

Now that's a pretty similar concept to every group ski trip that I've ever done. Somebody, occasionally with expenses paid and knowledge of the resort, will organize a get together at a resort and may co-ordinate accommodation, booking of lessons, passes, ski hire and transfers. They will often show people around the resort.

In fact that's essentially how the Ski Club of Great Britain started. From the club's website:

Back in 1903, when ski lifts and safety bindings were unknown, 12 men sat down to dinner at a fashionable restaurant in London (Cafe Royal) and decided to form a ski club - the Ski Club of Great Britain. Their aim was to encourage other people to learn to ski, help members improve and take more enjoyment from their skiing while bringing together people interested in the sport.

Many of those thousands of new skiers visited French resorts and took lessons with ESF schools.

Dave Mac wrote:This is the French ski school system "at it" again. It is back-firing as non-French ski schools gradually are moving their businesses out of France.

Dave
I don't think the French would consider that back-firing. I think this is exactly what they want to achieve - the restoration of the monopoly for the ESF :twisted: