THERE have been several developments in the long running series of legal cases between British ski instructor and holiday company operator Simon Butler and the French authorities.

Mr Butler, who has been ski teaching in France for more than two decades without any known problems, was charged in 2013 with teaching without full qualifications in France and running a ski school which also did not meet French legal requirements and was ultimately served with a six month suspended jail sentence and €30,000 fine after a series of French court hearings last year.

Mr Butler has vigorously rejected the accusations and continually taken his case to higher courts, with the aim of reaching the European Court where he believes he will be vindicated on the grounds that his qualifications should, he believes, entitle him to teach in France under European employment equality legislation. In the meantime Mr Butler has been forced to teach in Crans Montana, Switzerland, rather than Megeve, where he has been based for several decades.

On Wednesday this week the Court of Appeal in Chambéry suspended the earlier verdict of the fine and suspended prison sentence against Mr Butler whilst awaiting the verdict of the higher court in  Lyon.  French media reports are presenting this decision as a victory for Mr Butler.

Rumours abound that Mr Butler is also attempting to sue BASI, the British Association of Snowsport Instructors for £575,000.  His arguments revolve around the case that a decade or so ago a number of highly qualified British instructors, including Mr Butler, were offered a waiver of the ‘Eurotest’ in a deal between BASI and the ESF.

This is the certification which instructors need to have to teach in France under ESF rules, but which Mr Butler has refused to take.  Mr Butler claims to have filled in the relevant paperwork and submitted it but, unlike the other British instructors who did so, never received his waiver, leading to his more recent problems with the French authorities.  Mr Butler had his BASI membership revoked last year.

A recent statement from BASI said: BASI will not discuss any aspects of court action raised by Mr Butler. We are advised that to do so would be inappropriate against the background that there is still ongoing court action. Our hands are therefore tied on this matter.

* In a separate development not directly related to Mr Butler’s case, it has been reported in the French media thatthe head of the ESF ski school in Megeve, who is also believed to be the main protagonist against Mr Butler, was present during a violent physical assault on one of his employee at an end of season party.

The attack left the victim, a 64-year-old ski instructor hospitalised for a week with serious head injuries after an argument about working terms in a bar after an ESF event in Serre Chevalier became heated.

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