Formula 1 fans were left fuming after they were unable to enter the circuit due to gridlock on the roads entering the track on Friday.
With major improvements to the access roads in recent years, traffic hasn’t been a major problem for the Silverstone organisers, but Friday saw tailbacks for many miles and cars at a standstill, something which hasn’t been seen since 2000.
It’s believed the weather is the main culprit. Torrential rain has flooded many of the car parks and campsites which has forced spectators to pack into the tarmaced areas, of which there are few.
The official Silverstone Twitter feed posted an apology and explained it’s doing its best to get everyone into the circuit.
“Those of you that are here already we are doing our best to relocate you. If you are stuck in traffic we are doing all we can to get you in and parked up asap, we are sincerely sorry for the delay.”
80,000 fans have bought tickets to see Friday’s action, which was limited due to the heavy rain, but many are demanding refunds as they’ve not been able to access the circuit to watch the action.
Katie Tyler, head of communications, admitted the problems would most likely continue through to Sunday, whilst a full investigation would be launched.
“If we get more rain we have to be honest about it, it will be slow and there will be problems,” she said.
“We need to look into all the factors and what we can do to minimise something like this happening again. Worst case scenarios are planned for, but at the end of the day we are surrounded by fields, and the cost of tarmacing the whole site is not feasible.
“What’s so frustrating, that we’d almost got over the hangover of 2000. It seems we’re about to go through it again, certainly with today happening.”
With many more fans expected on Saturday and Sunday (135,000 on each), we recommend fans leave earlier than planned as the weather isn’t expected to improve.
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