Teesside Airshow… more like Teesside **** Show

RavsDad said:
Hmm. I'm sure the unions would have supported some extra work without extra pay.

Brilliant! Exactly how was he responsible for independent organisers, the amount of tickets issued, the route people chose and the time they set off?
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You're so wrong about your perception as to why there were major delays and traffic. The Event Organiser's were completely out of their depth and spent the day creating potential criminal environments, whereby frustrated drivers were using the on-coming lane to gain access to the airport, young children were actively running around in the oncoming traffic on the A67 and people were dumping their cars just to sit and watch the displays from the side of the road. The congestion and confusion caused was a huge bubbling cauldron and the organiser's are incredibly lucky not to have a manslaughter case on their hands. Police eventually drove down the A67 and tidied up what mess Hatton Traffic Management (and the organiser's) had caused.

Houchen is quick enough to pin his name to any positive outcome with Teesside Airport, which I can't blame him for. It is his biggest political asset to gain voters, but when things go wrong (and this was pure catastrophe), he must absorb some of the responsibility. I'd be astounded if we were to find out that this event did not hold several pre-planned meetings to discuss things such as the traffic management and continuity plans for when things could go wrong.

It stank of amateurism and unprofessionalism - the fact that I saw three stewards stood having a fag when those around them were perplexed as to where to park, where to go etc speaks absolute volumes. It was a major event based seemingly on minor planning.
 
Soutra said:
Limited access...

There are at least 6 separate places that you can access the airport for an airshow. Not all of them are ideal, but in years gone by, cars entered at the gate on the south side (where the fuel dump is now), and were parked on the grass between there and the terminal. There's also the emergency gate at the south end of the runway, and the other emergency gate near St George's church in Low Middleton. On the north side, there are gates near Wilkinson's nursery, and the farm at the north end of the runway (using the railway crossing, so not ideal). There is the new road to the terminal, and the old road through the old RAF buildings and out towards the station. The latter route was the only one being used on Saturday apparently.

Surely they could have had more than one entrance, so that the traffic from Stockton and the A66 didn't snag with traffic from Eaglescliffe and the A67, and traffic coming from Darlington through Middleton St George. It all met at the roundabout on the A67 near the railway line, and snarled up. Once past that, it was quite quick to get on and park. Again, when leaving, having more than one exit would have been good. A lot of the traffic trying to get out was having to cross the path of traffic still arriving.
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Excellent observations there. Sounds like that sort of input would have been valuable to the organisers - unless of course they did have it and ignored it..

Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
Tory chancers. Simple as that.
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Whereas of course, it's quite simple to invent a brain-dead response.
 
American_Mary said:
I'm baffled by the easy ride that some are willing to give the organisers, good organisation and planning mitigates all bar the most unfortunate of circumstances, extreme weather, major incident, etc my understanding is the traffic plan was signed off with caveats and they are trying to shift the focus from their own mistakes onto others, Stockton Council Events manager advised the plan was unworkable and apparently had full agreement from her counterpart in Darlington, both sit on the Safety Advisory Board and both expressed grave concerns that TMP was unworkable.

The organisers need to take responsibility for their mismanagement offer immediate refunds, honestly explain what the issues were and if involved again show that all lessons have been learned and this debacle was part of a steep learning curve, lame excuses and an attitude of pointing the finger away from themselves and at others should not be allowed to wash, you want the kudos and profit of success you need to take the anger and loss of failure.

What should have been a flagship event that showcased the region has now become a cause celebre and has been met with more negativity than positivity, to even the most uneducated the notion of holding a 22k ticket event at a working airport and to not expect problems seems to show a degree of naivety and a lack of cognisance that would make their ability to execute such an undertaken questionable.

No other commercial airport in the UK is having an air show at their premises, the majority are free events held in places with diverse communication links and with basics like Park and Ride, shuttle buses and contraflow systems in place, no other event this year will have as many ticket holders who won't even make it to the venue, the idea of a Teesside Air Show is a great one that I'm sure all of us are behind, but it shouldn't be at Teesside Airport but somewhere else in the region with a track record of being able to handle expected numbers, with proper provisions for traffic and crowd management, with alternative transport options and where everybody gets in and the talk of what a great day they've had and spectacular display they've seen is the major topic of conversation.
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It's almost as if a group of people with vast resources at their disposal have used it as a chance to try and make a quick few quid by getting 22,000 people on an airfield out of town with no recourse than to spend their cash at the site.

Imagine how much money it could have generated for the local businesses of, say, Redcar or Seaton Carew, if it was held over the coast line.

Oh well. There's always next year.
 
Some folk on here who won't hear a bad word said about Houchen.
If they spent just a little of their time away from showing the board Boro badges from down the years and carried out some research on Houchen and the TVCA then they might just be able to engage in an objective discussion.
 
Piccadilly Day Tripper said:
It's almost as if a group of people with vast resources at their disposal have used it as a chance to try and make a quick few quid by getting 22,000 people on an airfield out of town with no recourse than to spend their cash at the site.

Imagine how much money it could have generated for the local businesses of, say, Redcar or Seaton Carew, if it was held over the coast line.

Oh well. There's always next year.
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You cant charge 22k people a tenner to access redcar or seaton carew seafront though. Sunderland are just using COVID as an excuse. It costs the council a fortune to put the air show on, but what revenue streams do they get back?

£20 to park on the seafront? Rent from exhibitors? It cant be much.

Numbers dwindled last few years it was on (mainly due to dog$hit weather) but you cant account for/rely on decent weather bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors.

I see Blackpool Airshow is free, but Southport's isnt. Surely theyre both on the seafront?
 
The absolute state of the meeting minutes from the 9th March. Wow. So many unanswered questions and for there not to another meeting held prior to the day is unbelievable. Smaller scale meetings were held with no minutes, action or decision logs. The whole thing stinks and the day was set up to fail once they announced no public transport and no park & ride.

Glad to see that TIA will be unlikely to hold any similar events in the future. Stick to flying scaffs to Aberdeen.
 
Yeah think so. They’re getting a load of grief for cancelling it, but for environmental and council budgeting reasons it’s an understandable decision
 
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