THE HEAD of a British ski club which trains future champions has appeared in a French court accused of breaking local employment laws.
Malcolm Erskine, director of the British Ski Academy near Chamonix, faces a fine of 1500 EUROS in the latest development in the long running “Piste Wars” saga affecting ski coaches working in France.
Mr Erskine is a former World Cup racer who has run the British Ski Academy in Les Houches for 20 years.
The BSA runs training camps for talented youngsters and counts GB Olympic Alpine skier Dave Ryding and British number one Alexandra Tilley amongst its alumni.
But papers presented to a court last week by the local gendarmerie accuse Mr Erskine of using “non-qualified” coaches at his club.
The move is the latest courtroom battle to hit British skiing in France, where the French sports ministry is clamping down on foreign coaches. Mr Erskine’s legal team say British ski instructors are being “targeted”.
The 52-year-old from Surrey says its coaches are an international team who are “experts” in their field.
However they do not hold French teaching diplomas – which he insists are unnecessary because they hold top qualifications from their own countries, but the French authorities say are required.
Papers presented to the court in Bonneville, Haute Savoie, by the Gendarmerie Nationale of Chamonix Mont Blanc, state Mr Erskine had committed the “offence of having employed a non-qualified person exercising the functions of a teacher of sporting activities – several coaches and ski instructors on behalf of the BSA”.
The hearing has been adjourned until March, when he will learn if he must pay a EURO 1500 fine.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Erskine, pictured at the court, said he was “bemused” by the accusations.
He said: “ We are a ski race academy for British racers. This is an unwelcome interference.”
Last winter, ski coaches training members of the British junior team on the slopes of Les Houches were apprehended by “plain clothes gendarmes”, according to Mr Erskine, who “popped out of the trees” and told them to attend the local police station for questioning over their right to work in France.
He added: “It’s absurd that we are being chased by the sports ministry and challenged on our competency. We are a junior racing academy and if they want us to show that our guys are competent – my God, they are experts. My head coach is the former head coach of the Canadian Alpine World Cup team. Our young racers are all registered as racers with the British racing community – they are aspiring athletes who want to be the next Chemmy Alcott or Dave Ryding.
“Every single member of the British team that went to the World Alpine Championships last year were all trained, at various stages, by the British Ski Academy.”
Papers presented to the court by Mr Erskine’s legal team include a statement by British Ski and Snowboard, the British national ski association which describes the club as playing a “crucial role”.
The row centres over the recognition given by the French Sports Ministry to the qualifications possessed by foreign instructors.
Foreign instructors believe that under European law, professionals should have freedom to use their skills regardless of the country where they obtained their qualifications. The French Sports Ministry appears to disagree and the matter is now gradually moving towards a test case in the European Courts.
Despite this, a number of British outdoors instructors, as well as instructors from other countries, have been prosecuted for working in France, despite being at a top level in their field.
In 2014, British ski instructor Simon Butler was arrested off a chairlift in the resort of Megeve and fined 30,000 EUROS for teaching without the correct licence. He has launched an appeal which is ongoing.
Later that year, British mountain biking instructor Alistair Jamieson was “formally forbidden” from working in France. And last year a court in Albertville fined a Ski Club of Great Britain member 15,000 EUROS for ski guiding without the relevant qualifications.
The BSA’s position is that it is not a traditional ski school serving holidaymakers, but a specialist sports club, so the rules on qualifications should not even apply to them.
Mr Erskine received legal advice from the European Confederation of Outdoor Employers, a campaign group which represents a number of Britons facing similar troubles.
Yesterday its Secretary, Jean-Yves Lapeyrere, said: “The French are deliberately targeting British skiers because they don’t like the British coming out and using the Alps and challenging their monopoly of the ski slopes. It’s an anti-British piste war.”
Niall Mickel, a Scottish Solicitor Advocate and expert in international law said: “This is an interesting and fluid situation with opportunities for the respective roles of the European Parliament and member states.”
