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CROSSHIRE: SED ON THE MOVE…YOU’RE JOKING! When I heard that SED was moving away from Milton Keynes I was somewhat surprised to learn that our leading access machine suppliers were still intending to hold their Access Daze event at its usual home down the road in Deanshanger, close to the former SED venue. By lucky chance I decided to visit the smaller venue on the Tuesday and, after accepting the excellent hospitality on offer from exhibitors there, I planned to move on to SED on Wednesday morning, nice and early before the traffic built up. A significant number of Access Daze visitors on the previous afternoon had decided to visit because they experienced delays trying to get to SED and gave up. That should have forewarned me, but I was led to believe that the reason for delays on Tuesday were due to a road accident; whilst this may have been true, it only aggravated what turned out to be a pretty hopeless traffic situation. I knew that Wednesday was traditionally the busiest day, but even with good local knowledge and calling other prospective visitors (hands free) to check their progress from one traffic hold-up after another, it was obvious that the road system at every point of the compass was unable to cope. In company with many prospective visitors, I fumed it out for two hours and then just gave up and went back to work! I spoke later in the day to three exhibitors at SED who all said that some of their staff had been late on parade and many clients who were due to visit them had called in to say they were either aborting their visit or heading for Access Daze. An examination of the road network around the Rockingham site shows that it is predominantly old style single carriageway roads crossed at intervals by other routes at traffic islands. These roads already carry heavy peak hour traffic into the Corby and Kettering industrial areas and only a dunderhead could expect them to cope with an influx of several thousand extra cars without creating the sort of chaos that ensued. I gather from visitors who did get in to the event that things were not a pretty sight on the car parks. If so, that is inexcusable, as the organisers know the sort of traffic flow they are likely to get coming into the showground. The venue may be fit for purpose, but the road network serving it is not. If the organisers of SED think that there is any quick fix they had better come up with it soon because Crosshire has already learnt that a sizeable number of industry buyers will not be returning to this location next year. If the event cannot deliver buyers, the exhibitors will not be happy and our only serious’ heavy metal’ showcase will wither away. If SED has irrevocably committed to this location for the future they want certifying. Why on earth did they not strike a deal with nearby Silverstone where similar traffic problems have recently been addressed with expensive, but effective, road improvements? In this busy age, most visitors can only spare a day at the show and I know that many hirers set off in the early hours of the morning in order to get a reasonable length of time on the site. If I had travelled a great distance, only to end up taking over two hours to travel the last few miles, I would be as sick as the milkman’s horse on double delivery day. The road network will not be fixed, road traffic accidents will happen, public transport in the area is a joke, there are no viable long distance rail links, it is alleged that car parking on site is inadequate even if it was properly organised. Will you risk going to Rockingham next year? Executive Hire News › Archives › June 2006 › Crosshire › SED on the move...you're joking!
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