The trustees of the Emergency Service Show charitable trust would like to thank all the volunteers and exhibitors for their continued commitment in supporting our very popular event, held this year on Sunday 16 September.
This year was no exception, with what is believed to be record crowds attending the Show at Cotswold Airport to meet and greet their emergency services and associated charities.
The organising committee would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused to visitors and local residents by traffic congestion during the Show but this was due to circumstances beyond our control.
Despite payment and a contract being in place to use Kemble Enterprise Park for Show access, egress and parking, the site’s facilities manager refused to allow us to use our Traffic Management Plan at the eleventh hour and placed physical barriers in our way.
This dramatically restricted our ability to bring the Show traffic off the main A429, and to implement our exit strategy. The traffic build-up was also compromised by the closure of the M4 between J17 and J18, and temporary traffic lights in Crudwell.
We do not yet know why the issues on site happened, and we can only apologise for the impact on our visitors and the local community. As a volunteer committee, we strive year on year to improve every aspect of the Show but unfortunately, on this occasion, we were powerless to resolve the situation despite making every effort to find a solution at the time.
Good morning, hope you have all slept well and wake up ready for the big show, weather is looking good and final preparations underway to welcome you to the event.