Motor Sport: Silverstone aim to avoid a repeat of travel chaos

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Silverstone officials are to implement a number of measures designed to ensure there is no repeat of the travel chaos that unfolded during this year's British Grand Prix.

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Ian Parkes

Heavy rainfall in the build-up to the July event forced campsites to close, crippling congestion and organisers calling on fans not to attend for qualifying on Saturday in a bid to ease the situation ahead of the race.

Mercifully for managing director Richard Phillips, a record 127,000 crowd watched Red Bull's Mark Webber take the chequered flag ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.However, what transpired on Friday and Saturday left a bitter taste in the mouth of Phillips who vowed he would do all in his power to avoid a similar situation occurring again.From next year, the park and ride scheme will be expanded to run on all three days, and which will likely include new locations. There will also be improved shuttle services for those travelling by train, while a coach service will operate from a number of towns and cities.Silverstone is also to carry out work to improve drainage and water displacement systems of the non-Tarmac car parks on site.The official Silverstone Woodlands campsite is also being increased in size by 70 acres which, in the event of bad weather, will result in the density of plots being reduced.Phillips said: "We have learned from this year's experience and are taking steps to ensure we're better equipped to deal with whatever the weather may throw at us."This year's torrential rain, waterlogged campsites and saturated car parks created a 'perfect storm' of unforesee-able issues, to which we were having to react throughout a difficult and challenging day."Ironically, prior to this year's Grand Prix we had identified the need, and had been working on plans, to start reducing the number of people driving to the event."It will take time to change the mind-set of fans, but we need to ensure public transport is available as a comfortable and reliable option.

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Motor Sport: Silverstone aim to avoid a repeat of travel chaos

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