Kings Lynn Speedway - ahead of its time or it all depends by what you mean by old.

As the number of my senior moments rapidly increases I try to focus on the more positive benefits of my advancing years and look forward to the time I reach 60 and so am entitled to a free bus pass, winter fuel allowance and more importantly reduced admission charges to the speedway. So you can imagine my disappointment when on the Travel Plus European Tour in 2008 I was told by some Poole fans that their track only allow a reduced admission price for female over 60 males had to wait until they reached 65.

I assume that the Poole policy was based on the fact that at present the female state pension age is 60 whilst for males it is 65. This may well be true but having rules based on the sex of the people involved to determine who gets what benefit/concession has been judged to be a case of sex discrimination by the European Court of Justice as the British government found out to its cost in December 1999. This was when John Taylor, 64, won his case of unlawful sex discrimination against them for their then policy of giving winter fuel allowance to women at 60 but men had to wait until they were 65. Following this landmark decision the Government and many other organisations based who got benefits/concessions on the age of the person involved and one sees less signs offering pensioners discount but rather sensors discounts, ie over 60’s.

Whilst I can see some logic in the admission policy at Poole, although it would appear to be a case of sex discrimination, I was surprised and shocked when I read a report in the Speedway Star dated 14 March of the concession rate policy being adopted by Kings Lynn for the 2009 season. This stated that the £9 concession rate at the Norfolk Arena would be available to all senior citizens aged 65 and as long as they provided the necessary photo ID. This seemed on the surface to be very unfair to female fans aged 60 to 65 especially as in the same report Buster Chapman, the Kings Lynn promoter, was explaining that for the first time ever the concession rate would be also available to 16 and 17 year olds as he said “speedway tracks around the country seem to be doing what they could to help their fans this season.”

On the other hand maybe Mr Chapman is years ahead of his time, in fact 11 year and 3 weeks ahead due to the fact that from 6 April 2010 until 6 April 2020 the Government has announced that the state pension age for women will change gradually until it matches that of men at 65 after 6 April 2020.

S.O.S