Late arrivals

All points must be manned during the event. When a car park has been filled, the bulk of your traffic management staff and car park marshals can be moved off to the car parks currently being filled, possibly in the roving car park supervisor’s minibus. But you must keep skeleton staff on duty at all car parks while the event is still open.

There will always be late arrivals and if you pull all of your staff off to a remote car park, the late arrivals will park or more often ‘abandon’ their vehicles, wherever is most convenient to them.

It is likely that without the skeleton staff on duty, these late arrivals will block gates and emergency access routes. The skeleton staff should be aware of the ‘danger’ areas and so attempt to remain at or near those points to redirect stray motorists to the correct parking points. Skeleton staffing also adds an extra element of security to car parks, giving the public more peace of mind.

Motorists are funny people! I worked at a large cage bird event one year. An elderly lady, who was not a judge and who was driving a brand new car approached the Judge’s Gate far too fast. She aimed at the huge gatepost and was going too fast to turn into the gateway. She rammed the large concrete post, wrecking her car. I stopped to offer her assistance, while asking one of the gate staff to call an ambulance. The elderly lady was very agitated and on being offered assistance said she was late and demanded that somebody take her canary into the event, because it had a chance of winning its class. Was that dedication?