this is the reason i only ever entered once in the europa classic ,i entered 3 went to lofts nearly a week after the close date ,agreed with derick to do this , one left for final race ,came in 171st , he then took them to elgin nearly 400 miles and put them ,you name it rain fog more rain ,first bird home took about 6 days , i had mine reported in bristol by terry jones , i contacted terry and he told me he bought it at europa ,it got home from that dissaster and the di ck never told me it was home , that was the first and last time i took anything to do with derick nichols( totally out of order) imo.