OK - if there was ever a way to blow a chap's PPrune monica this is it.
I am the Airshow Director quoted above. I do not shirk responsibility and will not transfer blame.
I would like to record my deep and sincere regret that there were some significant delays with traffic management at the RAF Leuchars Air Show last Saturday. Of our 50,000 or so visitors, several hundred found themselves gridlocked as they attempted to depart. I completely understand how unacceptable delays can really detract from what was otherwise an outstanding day.
We have worked hard since last year with our colleagues in Fife Council, Fife Constabulary, and ScotRail to identify ways of minimizing the day’s traffic flow on the relatively narrow roads in the immediate vicinity of Leuchars village. ScotRail ran an increased service on Saturday to enhance our good public transport links. We also opened a new ‘park and ride’ car park with a capacity for 4000 cars and introduced a charging policy to encourage the use of the 2 off-base car parks. I am pleased that people who used these facilities (such as TurningFinals) left with a far better experience than those who parked on the base.
On the day the good weather saw some 12,800 vehicles travelled to the air show. This was an increase of 23% over any of the previous events and one that exceeded our planning assumptions. With the new ‘park and ride’ facilities underutilized, we ended up with more cars on the base than the small roads in the vicinity of Leuchars could cope with during the peak flow of traffic at the end of the show. It is clear that our efforts to persuade people to park away from the Station were insufficient. That, despite our planning, was my failure – we must do better.
My aim was to show off the Service I am proud to be a member of to the public. A huge team of people put together a superb show that has bought plaudits from a many quarters. Not only was the entire Station involved in the air show but also (due to the reduced manning at Leuchars) were approximatley 180 other personnel from across the RAF, council and emergency services and a number of contractors. The dissapointing experience of several hundred people when they came to leave the unit reflects badly on them and their hard work - I have let them down.
I shall do all that I can to ensure that we learn from this experience. In particular, the air show needs to better utilise the benefits of park and ride and public transport to reduce the demand on our limited local road network if it is to prevent a reoccurrence of these regrettable delays for which, once again, I wholeheartedly apologise.