GDSF 24/08/2018

[Triton]

Looking at the comments there seems to be some common comments. Queues to get in, no programmes, poor toilets.

To be fair to the organisers they had no idea of knowing how many people would turn up to the event. Perhaps the pre booked tickets should be limited in numbers with say, a 25% increase on the admission charge for paying on the day. If the pre booked tickets were made available for specific days and once a days allocation was sold you would have to try and book on a alternative day or pay the on the day prices this would enable the organisers to have some idea as to how many visitors there would be on a specific day and the number of Marshalls, car park usage would be known in advance. The tickets could be colour coded so that you entered the site at a specific gate and this could help to reduce the queues at certain gates. To be fair, car parking must be a major headache as you need a lot of Marshalls to control where people park their cars unless of course you have a system like Disney have in Florida. In a ideal world, you would sigh all of the car parks in zones and around the perimeter of the site you would employ road trains running in one direction which would pick up at each zone and take the punters to the entrances. During the day these would run at frequent intervals and visitors could join the trains at a convenient point close to where they parked their cars and the trains would take them back to where they parked their car at the end of the day. There would be fixed road train stops which would be clearly signed so that visitors would know when to get on or off. Finally, the toilets, whenever I see photos of GDSF there never seem to be any toilets in sight! At these events there has to be a plentiful supply of loos including accessible ones for disabled visitors and above all, they should be serviced at least once an hour and there should be sufficient staff and vehicles to do this. At smaller events like the Torbay Steam fair you see this being done. To organise such a large event must be a logistical nightmare. Mistakes have been made this year due to the sheer size of the event, however, I am sure lessons have been learnt and the appropriate remedial action will take place next year.

[Adrian white]

Not sure too many people was the real problem. Been to many big air shows and Rock concerts in the past with more people attending. The Road management was indeed poor (where were Dorset police and warning delay signage - Duxford is a good example!), and the entry/egress process from Car parks was beyond belief at times. Not enough people directing/hurrying traffic in to site, no proper signage (e.g. Car park 1, area B1,).. plus exit signs etc. No night time floodlighting, which was also needed for the public to avoid trip hazards and help find their car in the dark, on a big sloping uneven field. And the Public were NOT happy with the toilet arrangements.
Perhaps on the day card payments at say £22.50 and correct cash at £20 would have increased the speed of entry up along with more turnstile staff (one person on cash sales is poor). Yes there is a cost to all this, but IF there is to be another GDSF we have to remember the public is king and a bad visitor experience sadly spreads like wildfire on Fakebook/ instagranny etc.

The Show was indeed really excellent with some lovely touches, which the organisers should be praised but has fallen short in some area which is a big shame.

As i say each year why not enable programmes to be order in advance and sent straight to ones home beforehand so one can plan the visit and not miss any gems, with maybe the option to have a follow up list sent afterwards (or put it on the web) with the actual attendees. I'm sure many would indeed pay a few bob more. There was talk of a friends of GDSF, this could be one benefit!

Anyway I hope most people did indeed enjoyed themselves despite the problems and thanks to the staff who worked long days and had to field the public complaints (never an easy task). Lets hope formany more future GDSF's, with lessons learnt.