Bill Adams Resigns

jinnyj

jinnyj

Senior Jockey
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From the RP

BILL ADAMS has resigned as national secretary of the Stable Lads' Association with immediate effect.

Adams said: "In keeping with everything I have done in the last twenty years, I have reached my decision because I believe it to be in the best interests of stable staff in this country." The BHB has suspended the payments it makes to the SLA - which amounts to £170,000 a year - although the money will be paid into an escrow account with the intention of reinstating the payments once the organisation is fully functional again. The BHB has also promised to assist the SLA in the interim.

Most people on her won't give a stuff either way but for those of us who have had to resort to contacting the SLA, this is really good news. He was a total waste of space and I don't think he helped anyone who rang with complaints about their working conditions. In contrast I have found the National Trainers Federation to be brilliant with an in-house lawyer there on hand to give free advice about anything. And we get tons of stuff sent about employment matters etc as well as a monthly newsletter and monthly meetings.

This is long overdue but well done to those who have harassed the BHB for long enough that his time was up.
 
As you say - about bloody time too!

I see his refusal to resign (as published in the RP within the last week) held out well.....
 
From following the story in the RP, the guy came across is a complete tool and quite possibly a bit touched in the head.
 
Originally posted by jinnyj@Dec 7 2006, 06:49 PM
"In keeping with everything I have done in the last twenty years, I have reached my decision because I believe it to be in the best interests of stable staff in this country."
Click to expand...
Yes, Adams, and it would have been in their even better interests if you had done it twenty bloody years ago.
 
Excellent news. Let's hope the SLA gets a bit proactive now. This man seems to have been universally reviled and disrespected, so I can't see how apathy kept him in place. It seemed that he had to resign, which he refused to do, in order for anyone to replace him. As much as most courses have cleaned up their stable staff accommodations and improved their canteens (not hard in either case!), these were more because the courses were undergoing general refurbishment, than through any pressure from the SLA.
 
krizon, as with any organisation the members could have voted him out (well not with the politburo but they had nothing to do with racing). Not enough stable staff were interested in their association and there are many trainers who, shall we say, didn't encourage them to be active in it.
 
I wonder who nominated him for his MBE.

Or did he bring the drinks on one time in last year's Ashes series?
 
It sounds like a vicious circle - the SLA was rubbish, so the staff didn't support it. Because they didn't support it, Adams continued to linger longer than was good for anyone. I'm surprised that the NTF didn't support stable staff joining, although if trainers felt they were giving their staff a good deal, I can see why they wouldn't encourage them to join.
 
Why doesn't this suprise me? From the RP site:
SLA boss Adams 'quit day questions arose'
BILL ADAMS, the long-standing national secretary of the Stable Lads' Association, quit his post on the same day questions were raised about where missing money had gone, a jury was told on Tuesday.
Adams, 71, of Swadlincote, Derbyshire, ran the trade organisation, since renamed the National Association of Stable Staff, for 20 years before his sudden resignation in 2006, and was awarded an MBE for his services to racing.
He is accused of channeling more than £115,000 of donations awarded by the then British Horseracing Board to the union into a separate account for his own use.
Previously Derby Crown Court heard that union colleagues of Adams believed the £20,000 annual donations were no longer available.
But it subsequently emerged at a meeting with BHB accountant, Paul Foster, that the money had continued to be paid.
On the second day of the trial, Vivien Baldwin, the SLA's financial secretary said that when the BHB decided to look into how the money had been spent, she initially thought the claim payments were still being made was an administrative error.
She said: "He (Mr Foster) said that the only thing missing was what had happened to the Board donation money. I said we had not had it since the end of 2001."
When questioned by Stuart Newsome, representing Adams, whether she questioned him about the donations, Baldwin replied: "I was so convinced they were completely wrong that I did not have to ask Bill."
Mark Watson, prosecuting, asked her: "That meeting happened and that day he handed in his resignation. Is that right?"
In response Baldwin said: "I understand he went to the board and handed it in."
Adams denies two counts of theft totaling £155,235.
The case continues.
Adams claimed for non-existent cleaner
By Paul Eacott6.09PM 29 APR 2009
BILL ADAMS, the long-standing national secretary for the Stable Lads' Association claimed expenses for a cleaner he neverhad, a witness told a jury on Wednesday.
Alison Hardy was speaking at the trial of Adams, who ran the Stable Lads' Association until his resignation in 2006. He is accused of stealing more than £115,000 from the organisation.
The 71-year-old, of Swadlincote, Derbyshire, denies two counts of thefts that are alleged to have happened between January 1 2002, and June 13 2005.
Hardy, who worked as secretary for the association between November 2001 and July 2007, told a jury at Derby Crown Court that Adams claimed for the cleaner in his expenses.
"He said there was an office cleaner.
"He said if Vivien Baldwin, financial secretaryof the association, asked then to say that we did (have one)," said Hardy.
She said it was herself and another member of staff and sometimes Adams who did the cleaning.
Hardy also said that on occasions another woman had come into the office to help out and Adams had paid her "out of his own pocket".
Earlier in the trial, David Sorensen, who had represented the association, asked Adams at a meeting in December 2006, the day beforehe resigned, what the money had been spent on.
Sorensen said: "He said a portion of the money had been spent on cleaning services and £75,000 had been spent on back rent when the association had been run from his home."
The trial continues.

I hope he gets a decent sentence!
 
Everyone with their bloody snouts in the trough these days, I'm afraid. If there's lax auditing and virtually no calling to accountability at regular meetings, then I'm afraid these are the sort of greedy pigs who find that sort of glaring error, and exploit it. You can't just trust people any more, if there's money at stake. You have to call them to account and have proper overseeing systems in place. And then systems to oversee those, too.

From all that was said about him prior to the time of his sudden departure, he seems to have been both useless, uncooperative, and unhelpful towards the people he was meant to assist. No doubt it's good riddance to bad rubbish, but as for a decent sentence? Oh, here comes the old soldier routine - he'll probably claim some sort of infirmity and get off with a suspension and a fine of £3.75.
 
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