Traders' fury as 'shambles' motorsport festival stalls
| Published date | 29 June 2022 |
| Publication title | Huddersfield Daily Examiner |
But another vendor, Bryn Hawkins, the managing director of a Sheffield distillery said he thought there were fewer than 8,000 for the entire weekend - while other estimates put the figure even lower.
The event was billed as the "north's most spectacular weekend event" but for many visitors it was a huge let down with some claiming there was precious little motorsport.
Mr Hawkins said: "It was like one of those stories you get in The Sun every year at Christmas-time for a Winter Wonderland experience where mums and dads fork out a small fortune and then find there are just a few elves and not much more.
"What a shambles!
"We were told all sorts of things that were just wrong.
"As traders we had to share a single toilet between 40 traders and the public, that regularly was in an unhygienic state and had no sink.
"We were told by someone setting up for the show that there were more but the organisers demanded that they be moved to the VIP area. His wife seemed obsessed that it was the wind's fault for our experience!
"We had no running water, there was occasionally a bowser but we were told that it was too expensive to put a standpipe in for the traders (there were three in the VIP area). We also didn't have any access to shower facilities they were roughly half a mile away in the public area and the gate was closed up outside of trading hours.
"I have been involved in motorsport since I was a child and know there's a huge amount of amateur and professional motorsport that could have filled the place, but because of the huge costs and the draconian times they could get on and off the field there was only one motorsport club in the field.
"The army stunt team that had some motorbike show came into the field, saw there was no power for them despite booking it, turned straight around and left.
"There was a few things in and around the VIP area which was quite frankly the only bit of the field that looked in any way like a motor show, however, was still mainly road cars and bereft of any major amounts of motorsport to look or interact with.
"I paid £259 for my pitch, I expect the basic amenities to be covered.
"We even had to ring the toilet company one night as they were going to leave the traders' portable loo full one evening...
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