VOC LTD: PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE?

Back in June 2009, when rumours about the removal and dispersal of the John Lumley Collection were merely rumours as opposed to established fact, VOC Secretary Andrew Everett told club members that a VOC member who had asked the club a quarter of a century previously to take over his collection after his death was still alive. It is reasonable to assume that this anonymous benefactor must be getting on a bit now. Of course, as former VOC Vice-President Bruce Main-Smith has remarked, The Vincent H.R.D. Owners Club as it stands is not a legal entity so its legal ability to own anything at all is doubtful. 

However, as a limited company, it can own property, like the Nigel Seymour-Smith 'A' Comet to which Mr Everett refers. It will also be able to own the collection mentioned by Mr Everett should the anonymous benefactor decide to leave his collection to The Vincent H.R.D. Owners Club Ltd. The Vincent H.R.D. Owners Club Ltd will also be able to apply for a V5C document for the so-called Nigel Seymour-Smith Model PS, the fact that the Model PS actually belongs to the John Lumley Estate notwithstanding. The new company might even be able to accept other motorcycles as gifts from members, including members who cannot pay the tax demands that HM Revenue & Customs have reportedly starting sending VOC officials and members found in possession of motorcycles from another important collection.

The possibilities are boundless. But what guarantees will members of the VOC in its current incarnation have that they will have a share in the club's assets and holdings when they are transferred to this new private limited company with share capital? Will The Vincent H.R.D. Owners Club Ltd issue shares to every club member around the world? And what guarantee do VOC members - and benefactors - have that The Vincent H.R.D. Owners Club Ltd will not simply be wound up by its unelected directorship on some pretext or another, with its assets and holdings being offered for sale to, let us say, 'preferred' potential buyers, such as the same group of individuals responsible for the John Lumley Affair?

At the moment, there  are in effect two Vincent H.R.D. Owners Clubs, the old unincorporated club dating back to 1948, and the new incorporated club set up in September 2010, just as it was becoming clear to the VOC Executive Committee that they could not control the fallout from the John Lumley Affair and that their attempt to persuade not just the Executors but the Revenue that the ex-John Lumley motorcycles traced to date were worth no more than £70,000. Readers of the blog about the Lumley affair will know that an independent assessor valued these motorcycles conservatively at £430,000. 

What about the assumption by the club management on behalf of the club of any tax liability in relation to the Model PS appropriated in the name of the club once it was established that Nigel Seymour-Smith did not own this motorcycle and could not therefore give it to the VOC? Did members agree to this? Did members ask or, rather, authorise these elected officials to turn their club into a limited company with as yet unidentified shareholders and to appoint themselves the directors of this business without any reference to the membership? Do members have any shares in The Vincent H.R.D. Owners Club Ltd? 

These are the sort of questions any half-intelligent or even half-witted member of The Vincent H.R.D. Owners Club should be asking in advance of the membership vote to which VOC Chairman Tim Kirker referred in his January 2011 editorial, three months after the setting up of The Vincent H.R.D. Owners Club Ltd, when vaguely discussing possible plans to turn the VOC into a Trust, subject to rule changes and a membership vote. Except that none of you got to vote on whether or not your club should be incorporated as a trust, a limited company or even a registered charity because it looks as though it was already a done deal when Mr Kirker's editorial was first published in January 2011.