LETTERS From P. E. Rayner, Binstead:
I WAS one of the many Islanders caught up in the chaos on Thursday last. I arrived at Gunwharf to get on the 4.30pm ferry and finally got home on foot after 11pm, having had to abandon my car at Fishbourne in a car park.
I am a supporter of the festival but, like many Islanders, I never want to be held to ransom by the event again. I resent not getting to see my children at all on Thursday. I know of someone who had to reschedule a relative’s flight to Europe in fear of not being able to make it off the Island on Monday.
And to have to miss a funeral at the crematorium due to gridlock is inexcusable.
Where does all this leave us for next year? This Island, as we are frequently reminded when the fixed-link debate is revisited, does not have the infrastructure to cope with increased traffic; fact. While there may have been certain mitigating circumstances, ie weather, the IW can not function as normal with such a vast influx of traffic.
I hope the council/organiser /police and anyone else involved, will start from the stance that we are an Eco island next time around, rather than trying to ignore that fact.
What about this?
a) Festival goers park on the mainland and are taken from whichever ferry port they arrive at by coach.
b) Any traffic which does come is directed to satellite car parking areas such as Robin Hill and Brickfields etc and people are shuttled in to the campsite. Parking at the campsite is strictly for those with proven mobility issues.
The IW is different. Let’s hope the logistics for getting to and past the IOW Festival in 2013 will be, too.
• A page of letters on this topic in the Friday, June 29, County Press.