Firework display at Staffordshire Showground sparks complaints after 'night of chaos'

The event was held at Staffordshire County Showground and resulted in people calling for a serious investigation by the hosts, Stafford Castle Rotary Club.

Some feared that a serious accident may happen as people attempting to exit the event created a bottleneck due to lack of signs and the high numbers of people.

There were complaints over a lack of ticket checks, poor lighting and an absence of stewards as people left.

Tom Owen, 38, who attended the "Firework Extravaganza" said: "It was shocking, there's so much space there and yet they crammed the fair so close that it created a narrow pathway for everyone, in times of Covid it was just so irresponsible.

"Then to keep closing the exit and creating a huge bottle neck, there was a fear of people being crushed."

Stafford Castle Rotary Club thanked everyone for their attendance and issued a statement which said: "We know last night wasn’t the event you expected and for that we are truly sorry, we’re currently running a full post-event debrief."

Attendees were also left unimpressed by the display, with one person describing it as "anything but extravagant".

Emma Rogers, 26, from Stafford, said: "This is the most poorly organised event I have ever attended, it was sheer chaos.

"The rides were too close together so the queues just blended, people were unable to distinguish between where one queue started and another ended.

"There wasn't enough food or drink to cater for the amount of tickets sold and it was a complete guessing game as to where the fireworks would be let off from."

It was also reported that torches were used to light the car park with marshals who assisted with parking not being on site after the event had finished.

Complaints over poor organisation, a lack of parking and long queues to get in and out of venues have been common at firework displays across the region.

In Wolverhampton, some people gave up after queueing for hours only to still not be at the racecourse in time for the main display, while similar scenes were reported at Himley where there were also huge delays for buses and an ambulance was unable to get through due to traffic.

Both of the Wolverhampton and Himley events were run by the respective local councils.