Silverstone urges fans to avoid car parks on Saturday
2012 British Grand Prix
Silverstone is taking the unprecedented step of asking some fans not to attend Saturday’s action at the track.
The circuit issued the following statement on their official Twitter account:
“We are dissuading fans from coming to the event tomorrow if you have a public car pass, those with [park and ride and] are camping will be fine.
“We will be refunding people with unused Friday and Saturday tickets the details of how to do this will be communicated to you early next week.”
Thousands of fans were left unable to get in after serious traffic problems at the circuit day following today’s heavy rain.
If you attended today’s session please share your experience of the traffic problems in the comments or in the Going to the British Grand Prix forum.
Update: Silverstone reiterated their warning in a statement sent by email:
“Silverstone are strongly advising fans with public car park passes for Saturday, not to come to Silverstone tomorrow (07 July).
“Unless spectators have pre-booked Park and Ride, have a hospitality ticket that includes parking in the centre of the circuit, or are already in local campsites and able to walk to the circuit, Silverstone strongly advises that you do not attend the qualifying day of the 2012 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix.
“Silverstone has had to take this action due to the fact that 50% of the public car parks have been lost, due to the severe weather conditions over the last weeks and, in particularly, the last 36 hours. Silverstone is doing everything possible to protect and preserve as many of the car parks ahead of Sunday.
“Fans will be refunded for any unused Friday or Saturday tickets. Full details on how this will be handled will be communicated early next week.”
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aka_robyn (@aka_robyn) said on 6th July 2012, 22:20
I’m finding this entire concept ridiculous, and my friend and I WILL be driving there tomorrow morning as planned. I didn’t fly here from the US for nothing!
verstappen (@verstappen) said on 6th July 2012, 22:20
Good luck for all of you who have tickets and were planning to drive to the circuit by car. I know I would try… The mess tomorrow…
Scalextric (@scalextric) said on 6th July 2012, 22:30
Lucky there are civic leaders from the Austin area there this weekend. I hope they return to Texas motivated to improve the COTA road access ASAP.
pSynrg (@psynrg) said on 6th July 2012, 23:11
I really don’t think they’ll be expecting rain.
F1fanNL (@f1fannl) said on 6th July 2012, 22:35
How about hospitality parking at Club Silverstone? That’s not public parking but it’s not in the center of the circuit either. We only had little trouble this morning as we only missed GP3 first practice and parking was fairly easy. We got stuck on the A43 but once we got to the exit directing to Club Silverstone hospitality we got there very quickly. Getting out was fairly easy as well. It took us 45 minutes for what is usually a 35 minute trip.
Hydro (@hydrouk) said on 7th July 2012, 5:48
I’m wondering the same, does the east hospitality come under “public car park passes”?
F1fanNL (@f1fannl) said on 7th July 2012, 7:46
I got another update via email.
Looks like there shouldn’t be much of a problem for east hospitality. We’re going in 15 minutes so I’ll update when I arrive (or not).
pSynrg (@psynrg) said on 6th July 2012, 23:21
Come on folks, get over it. Some delays, parking problems, some missed events. Pain the ass but that’s all really, no one’s been harmed. You’ve missed a bit of very little F1 action.
You can hardly blame the organisers on this one with unprecedented rainfall all over the country this is pretty much freak weather.
Maybe they could have surfaced many square miles of fields to be more suitable car parks. Maybe they can’t because some of those fields belong to someone else. The F1 circus is once a year, probably the single biggest event at Silverstone all year (?) Maybe it has encroached on its surroundings enough already?
I’d rather they spent the money on ensuring a world class motor sports facility – which it will be most of the time. As opposed to having inconvenient muddy fields every decade or so…
fishfingers (@fishfingers) said on 7th July 2012, 0:07
It will never be a world class motor sports facility if people are unable to attend. My brother sat in his car for over 10 hours today and saw nothing. The marshals and police near the car parks were useless and knew nothing about what was going on. There were few (if any) messages played on Silverstone FM about what was going on.
Also, Silverstone is in the United Kingdom. The weather I saw today was most definitely not “unprecedented” for this country – I’d say it is a relatively common occurrence.
If Silverstone do not have enough parking spaces they should not sell as many parking passes and they should not sell as many race tickets. If that means they can’t afford to host the race then so be it – they don’t deserve to.
pSynrg (@psynrg) said on 7th July 2012, 0:18
It’s just a missed event, seriously, big deal.
Meanwhile there are people losing their homes.
David Smith (@dsmith74) said on 7th July 2012, 8:45
I think the issue here is – People with what little money they have; have struggled to save up and then spent what is a ridiculous amount of money for a ticket only to be subjected to this!
Yes refunds are going to be issued, but if they can’t organise an RACEt what chance is there of seeing a refunnd before Christmas!
njw (@njw) said on 7th July 2012, 0:18
“common occurrence” – really? How long have you lived in the UK?
“Torrential rain is causing disruption as a month’s rain falls in parts of the UK within one day” – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18722054
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 7th July 2012, 9:12
@fishfingers If it’s of any use I’ve been told on Twitter that circuit parking passes are being accepted on the park and ride:
http://twitter.com/f1fanatic_co_uk/statuses/221515005181440000
SamS (@sams) said on 6th July 2012, 23:27
Just got back home after 6 hours of trying to get in not going to bother tomorrow will just get refund might try on Sunday but let a sour taste as meant to be camping at woodlands too
maxthecat said on 6th July 2012, 23:39
Messy but isn’t the first time it’s happened. I’m guessing this was pushed by Health and Safety with the threat they’d call off the race.
Young said on 6th July 2012, 23:50
Conditions are actually set to get worse or just as bad as today on Sunday. So lets hope nothing dangerous happens.
fishfingers (@fishfingers) said on 7th July 2012, 0:02
So people who paid £55 for circuit parking are being told to stay away, but those who paid £10 for park and ride are being allowed to park their car?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 7th July 2012, 0:14
If you’re heading to Silverstone do have a look at the forum where there’s a lot of activity at the moment with people sharing advice and making contingency arrangements:
Going to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone
PhilEReid (@philereid) said on 7th July 2012, 0:27
On Sunday, if you’re arriving by car, but the car isn’t parking, just dropping off, does it still need a pass? Also, is that going to cause complications? I think the weather is supposed to be okay, so this is more of a general question in terms of is this an okay thing to do, or is a pass needed? Thanks guys.
P.S, any heads up on what I should bring, as you can probably tell, it’s my first time.
TED BELL said on 7th July 2012, 2:37
Maybe if the fans all had Pirelli wet weather tires they would be able to get there on Saturday. Think of the massive piles of clagg along the sides of the roadways….Poor Paul Hembry maybe your road tires are better than your race tires….somehow I doubt it….
David Smith (@dsmith74) said on 7th July 2012, 8:32
Yet again the British Fans get the raw end of the deal, Siverstone spent all that money on upgrading the circuit, oh hang on that was for all the VIP’s and for the all posh nobs hospitality and new pit building even after 12 years the fans (the paying people are still subjected to this!). Seems like they didnt learn from 2000.
Have Silverstone ever heard of plastic matting that can be put down on grass that is suitable for cars to go acrosss or wood chips, oh wait that costs money and its quite clear they dont want to spend it on the fans facilities!
David Smith (@dsmith74) said on 7th July 2012, 8:38
Updated Press Release From Silverstone
Please dont turn up today If you have a Car – We advise that you apply for a refund and go to a grand prix abroad – they are far better organised.
Ends
Paul campbell said on 7th July 2012, 8:53
There is a happy medium here but the organisers have not been prepared for this type of weather.
It is possible to make semi hard standing surfaces that still allows the water to drain through a permeable surface whilst not allowing the grass to churn to mud. It’s called grasscrete. This would have stopped any of this happening.
It wouldn’t solve the traffic problems around the circuit though… Let’s face it, again the British public get the wrong end of the stick… Expensive prices for poor facilities.