The National Motorcycle Museum near Birmingahm was destroyed by fire this afternoon.
£7 million worth of motorcycles were destroyed.
How did they get away without putting a full sprinkler system in ????
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What a disaster....I have enjoyed many trips there.
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It is an absolute tragedy (purely in automotive terms of course). A sprinkler system must surely have been fitted - I'd have thought that the insurance company would have insisted on it.
Nonetheless, many priceless and irreplaceable motorbikes will have been lost today and I, for one, feel very sad about that.
Cheers
Rob
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No sprinklers in Yarls Wood (Bedford Detention Centre) and that was a Government building. The estimate for a sprinkler system was under £1M but when it came to actually putting it in it was £10M+ so it wasn't done and bill when it was burnt down was something like the price of a litre of petrol with a huge number of 0s after it.
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I come across this sort of thing all the time and when it happens in a building like a Museum it seems absolutely criminal. Most insurers now will insist on a sprinkler system in a building like this so why not here I don't know.
You would have thought that common sense would have prevailed and a sprinkler system fitted when dealing with irreplaceable things like vintage motor bikes.
Ooh, theres that word again, COMMON SENSE, I'm not sure it exists anymore.
What a waste.
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When I worked for a mail order company, they had to take out the sprinklers which were there when we moved there, the insurance company said we had too. Apparently the risk of losses by sprinkling is much higher than fire.
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I guess that depends what the product is though. For computers, or clothes even, or anything else perishable in water, I can understand it.
In this case, it's motorcycles, which are designed to withstand getting wet or being rained on, much more than they are to survive being burned to a crisp.
I suppose there could be electrics or something like that which might be damaged, even around the bikes, but surely the main value in a place like this would be the bikes themselves.
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I have to say, bikes don't interest me that much.
I still think it's a grest shame to lose a great collection. I hope they managed to save some of the exhibits.
H
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I've just seen on the news that about 250 escaped damage, with 600-650 damaged or destroyed. Absolutely terrible waste.
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I know my dad's going to be very upset about this, he took me there as a kid many times as well as the car museum as it was only 20 minutes in the car for a cheap afternoon's entertainment. He's a serious bike nut having owned a few classic bikes like a Norton Commander, BSA Gold Star and Royal Enfield 650 (he has a '78 Honda 250 now).
I really loved seeing all the bikes there, my favourite were always the very rare futuristic Ariel's they had at Coventry that were practically priceless.
I'm a bit upset as it was part of my regions heritage that has probably gone forever, I hope at least some of the damaged bikes are restorable and I really hope the insurance can cover the collection to at least restore the museum.
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Terrible shame, I see according to Ananova it may have been started by a staff member's discarded cigarette.
www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_820106.html
Blue
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Terrible shame, I see according to Ananova it may have been started by a staff member's discarded cigarette.
Staff permitted to smoke in a museum? It sounds almost as careless as not having smoke alarms or a proper fire defence system.
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What got to me after all the sad shots of the burnt out bikes, was the idominatble optimism of the owner. How very British, no irony or sarcasm involved there. Glad no-one was hurt, but a huge loss to the nation.
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