ORGANISERS of the Monster Trucks Australia Show have promised there will be no repeat of last year’s traffic and ticketing chaos that saw 10,000 people turned away.
Event manager Rod Britton said the bedlam at last year’s show was totally unacceptable and said his team had worked closely with Cranbourne police and the City of Casey to ensure things ran smoother this year.
“We apologise to any surrounding residents that were affected,” Mr Britton said.
Changes to this year’s event, to be held on Easter Saturday at the Cranbourne Racecourse, include a remodelling of the spectator entrance and employing a traffic management company to ensure street traffic around the racecourse is in order.
“We have also got a high priority on pre-sale tickets for this year’s event and have widely publicised that the event could be a sell-out,” Mr Britton said.
More than 25,000 people turned up to last year’s event at a venue with a capacity of only 15,000.
Police expressed their disappointment at last year’s event when traffic light cycles needed to be changed near Grant Street to clear traffic.
Casey’s manager of community strengthening, Janette Green, said police would be on duty this year to ensure traffic was under control. “We can monitor the ticket sales on a minute-by-minute basis and have systems in place to close access to the venue as soon as we reach capacity,” Mr Britton said.
This year, only existing ticket holders would be allowed to access the venue if and when it was deemed a sell-out.
Despite the crowd problems, Mr Britton said last year’s show was a success and spectators could expect more of the same action this year.
Some of the highlights for this year’s show on 3 April will include the 5000kg “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, the $300,000 Avenger monster truck and a jet car.
– Bridget Brady
