Hull Fair entrances widened after police break-up sudden surge
HULL Fair organisers will widen entrances and put up diversion signs to prevent a repeat "surge" of people on busy nights.
A combination of fine weather and the popularity of the star attraction, Skyrider, is thought to have made last weekend "exceptionally busy".
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Bottle-neck: Families visiting Hull Fair were caught in a sudden surge in Walton Street on Saturday at about 7.30pm. Picture: Jim Mitchell
Police were forced to step in and break-up the sudden surge in Walton Street on Saturday night as thousands of families chose the same time to visit the fair.
Now, organisers say they plan to widen paths and entrances to the fairground site in time for this weekend.
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Stall-holder Garry Leach, who is also a steward for The Showman's Guild, which helps organise the fair, said: "This year is the busiest in years.
"Hull Fair has really caught people's imagination, which is a good thing.
"Unfortunately, we had a slight problem on Saturday evening.
"Usually, the fair is very free-flowing. But, at about 7.30pm, a lot of people decided to all come to the fair at once.
"However, the police did a fantastic job, as they do every year."
Mr Leach said at the height of the surge, officers briefly prevented more people walking down Walton Street, allowing the crowds to dissipate.
He said: "In anticipation of next weekend, we are now widening entrances.
"Signs are also being put up to direct people along alternative routes to the sites."
Mr Leach urged fair-goers to consider visiting the attraction at less busy times.
He said: "The fair is open from 4pm to 11pm every day. We would ask people to visit the fair at other times of the day, if possible.
"This will increase their enjoyment of the rides, because they will not have to queue for as long."
Jim Mitchell, the Mail's picture editor, was with his young family when they became caught-up in the bottle-neck.
He said: "We had parked in the KC Stadium car park and walked through to Walton Street.
"In comparison to previous years, it was very busy with pedestrian traffic.
"As we walked up Walton Street, close to the Brickmakers' Arms, we were suddenly caught in a log jam of people. You struggled to move.
"If a child had tripped and fallen, they could have been in trouble. I ended up putting my son on my shoulders and carrying him.
"Eventually, we managed to get over to the pub and stayed in the car park until the crowd had passed.
"The police seemed to get it under control fairly quickly. A lot of people were talking about it."
Therese Rigg, Hull City Council's events manager, said: "Due to exceptionally high numbers of people attending Hull Fair on Saturday, Walton Street became very busy, resulting in the police and stewards having to redirect people into the fairground via other entrances to reduce congestion in this area.
"To avoid this situation happening again, we have spoken to the owner of a catering unit, which was on private land along Walton Street and they have moved the unit back so people queuing do not obstruct the walkway down Walton Street.
"The council, police and stewards work together to ensure the safety of visitors to the fair and staff at the fairground respond to any issues immediately.
"In doing so, there were no injuries and the flow of people in Walton Street was brought back to normal within 20 minutes."
Comments
by redfraggle73
Wednesday, October 17 2012, 2:26PM
“Does anyone know what the estimated number of people in attendance was at the fair?”
by GCtheDJ
Thursday, October 11 2012, 9:19AM
“Had another little look round Fair last night and finaly managed to get on the Star Flyer (beat the queues, went at five o'clock). Very good, felt like I was on a hang-glider. Really pushed the boat out and went on the Waltzers (£2) and the Cyclone (£1.50) and 100g of Banana Split Toffee, same price as last year (£2). Now, you can't grumble really can you.? If you went to Blackpool Pleasure Beach I'm sure that you'd be paying more. In fact I think you have to buy a 'big' ticket to enable you to go on as many as you can. I've found this a tad expensive, especially if you're only there for a couple of hours.”
by BroughGurl
Thursday, October 11 2012, 8:51AM
“Surely some of the money spent at the fair stays within local economy? Bob Carvers for example is a local company that has a stall at the fair.
I would have thought it's pretty obvious that there'll be peak times for fair traffic/footfall such as weekend evenings so if you've got young children why not do the sensible thing and go at another time. Some of the kids rides are cheaper on a saturday afternoon.”
by Demonica666
Thursday, October 11 2012, 7:14AM
“thesnooper
Thanks for your reply. I understand your logic that the fair only has a limited space with which to expand but that is the problem as I see it. As rides get bigger and more spectacular, so does footfall to the fair. I feel that this site and surrounding infrastructures simply cannot support such a huge spectacle year on year.
In no way do I wish to scrap Hull Fair - far from it, but the safety of people is paramount and it appears that this site is no longer fit for purpose. I appreciate that people love the tradition and the spectacle if Hull Fair (I do too) but questions need to be asked about the sustainability of holding it in this area.”
by killer127
Thursday, October 11 2012, 6:06AM
“Never mind moving this abomination, how about scrapping it, it does far more damage to the local area than it does good, higher crime rates, more traffic congestion, millions of pounds removed from the local economy, traumatised kids, it may look good for the media, it may bring in visitors from out of town, but the money they spend doesn't stay in this area...If the council are so behind this annual Gypsyfest - prove me wrong, publish some statistics,HDM do some journalism and do some digging..I am waiting but I will not be holding my breath...”
by thesnooper
Wednesday, October 10 2012, 11:43PM
“@ JohnEG
of course you are right, its a long time since we did history at school just one of those things you tend to forget ;-)”
by cazmarelda
Wednesday, October 10 2012, 5:15PM
“The comments about the little lad who is having nightmares after this incident are totally out of order. If I had been 'trapped' like that I would have 'lost it completely'...panic would have overwhelmed me and I would have been hyper-ventilating and would probably have collapsed...just the thought of it makes me feel very anxious. Am I a wimp?... definitely not...I have in the past participated in some very extreme sports and thoroughly enjoyed them, but being 'trapped' in a sea of bodies not moving would, for me, be a nightmare and I am an adult, so I can only shudder and imagine how a little person would feel surrounded by adults and having that feeling of being 'trapped', in my opinion this would be enough to have long term effects on the lad not just 3 nights of nightmares. I hope he is OK now...bless him.”
by JohnEG
Wednesday, October 10 2012, 3:18PM
“thesnooper: There's a good article about the history of Hull Fair on the councils website: http://tinyurl.com/9qjkm5g
I think you'll find it's only been on Walton Street for 124 years, after being moved from Park Street. It had also been held on "Brown Cow field outside the town", wherever that was!”
by GCtheDJ
Wednesday, October 10 2012, 2:26PM
“I'll be taking my daughter and her friend tonight. I've always loved the atmosphere. Yes i agree to some extent that money is a bit more precious and perhaps could be spent better but, it's once (or twice if you go twice) a year and there's really nothing like it (unless you go to Nottingham).
Even if you only have a walk round, get a balloon for the grand-kids and a bag of brandy-snap and some banana-split toffee, go on! Enjoy yourself.”
by superdredge
Wednesday, October 10 2012, 1:49PM
“I went round the fair last night and thought the prices where ok,like anything else we cant expect them to stay the same year after year with all the fuel prices going up these machines dont run on fresh air a great event for Hull not many cities can say that enjoy it while its here but ill admit some of the rides have got a bit scary for me what happened to the shamrocks.”