Nick and Jeremy Ground

Mike, here are my experiences.

I and my 8 year old son ordered the tickets by phone and despite the call centre trying to get the single person supplement charge to be waived the computer system wouldn't have it. (At 8yrs old he was free - I was more expensive).

We were allocated Trawscoed and Rheola and made our way up late Thursday eve. We arrived, subject to the misprint in the directions, at Car Park E at 11:30pm and made our way into the car park with no problem. Good nights sleep!

Made our way to the spectator area and watched all the competitors through SS3, the view was partly obscured by the crowds but generally no complaints. Stayed on to watch SS5 and left after about 30 cars to go to Rheola.

Now it started to go wrong. The level of traffic on the move on a designated route led to long delays at a couple of the T junctions and
time started to get tight. Where were the boys in blue? I expected them to be everywhere with a standard issue gatso/laser in hand. We got to the relevant M4 junction to join a queue already right down the slip road and onto the motorway, dodgy. At the top of the slip road the police were talking amongst themselves. Traffic management ? We then passed though the police checkpoint for the car park and joined a long queue. 30 mins to first car now - we were told there had been trouble and the police had stopped spectators entering the stage.

When we finally got into the car park we travelled about ½ mile before over-zealous marshals told us to park. A quick glance at the map showed over 1½ miles to walk in 20 mins and all uphil l- no chance. Now luck came back. We had been chatting to a group of die-hard fans from Norfolk at Trawscoed and they had decided to ignore the marshals and try to go further up the access road to park. They spotted us and offered a lift. (Thank goodness for company cars). Fully laden we drove up to the stage entrance passing numerous parking spots and parked within sprinting distance of the spectator area. We saw all the top people through and my son was talking to me again!

Leaving Rheola was as expected a bit harder. We lost our friends and had to hike all the way down. Traffic was heavy on the way back towards Cardiff but we were pleased with our day out.

My final comments on the Rally GB 2002 are 1. Too expensive and 2. Better organisation of the traffic management needed.

Personal feelings regarding the Rally GB generally are only to say bring back the RAC Rally with its mix of endurance and skill. If you spread all the spectators that cause the congestion in South Wales around Yorkshire, Kielder, Scotland, Lake District and North Wales we would not have all the issues that are threatening the rally in the calendar. More fun too.

Nick and Jeremy Ground