SIR Elton John put on a superb performance at Longleat, on Sunday, but Longleat have, once again, shown their lack of organisation when it comes to traffic movement.

We were advised the car parks would be opening at 4pm and everyone had to be seated for the show to start at 6pm. I have to admit I was late leaving Trowbridge at 3.55pm, but Longleat is only just down the road, it couldn’t take that long. Could it? We joined the queue just beyond Westbury and the A36 was lots of stops and very little start. I feel very sorry for the motorists who were not headed for the concert and just wanted to get past Warminster. Traffic control outside the immediate Longleat area was non-existent, signage was late and I only saw one of Wiltshire’s finest during the afternoon and that was a police car heading in the opposite direction, away from Cley Hill Roundabout.

At 6.30pm I pulled into Park and Ride car park A. Over two and a half hours to travel about 10 miles.We could have cycled a lot quicker, but no, they weren’t allowing bicycles on site.

Though why, is a mystery. Cyclists weren’t going to be knocked down by the cars, because all the cars were stationary.

We were directed to a parking spot, rather half-heartedly, by the few stewards who were actually doing something, rather than the rest who were standing in big groups chatting. We were then pointed towards the scenic walk down to the venue, rather than the Park and Ride buses, which were in fact a half mile walk in the opposite direction, across a bumpy field. Bad luck to anyone a bit unsteady on their pins.

During the walk down to the venue, fortunately in sunshine, only one bus passed in each direction. All the others were sitting in a group by the venue, looking unused and unloved. Once the event managers realised their transport strategy to get 15,000 people on site in an hour and a half hadn’t worked, they should have been shuttling people down to the venue as quickly as possible by bus.

We were, on arrival in the car park, over half an hour late for the start of the support act. By the time we walked down the 1.4 miles of sometimes steep and uneven road-side track, we had missed the first act completely and as we approached the venue could hear that Elton was well into Funeral for a Friend. There were loudspeakers placed at intervals on the pathway from the car park to the venue, piping random music. At least if they had a live feed from the stage, we could have heard what we were missing and had paid lots of money for.

Sir Elton was, as stated, superb and his energetic performance was over far too soon, at 9.15pm. We lingered long enough to grab a coffee and allow the rush to die down, but still had an hour of queuing to get off site, arriving back at Trowbridge just before midnight. On the plus side, we did take the bus back to the car park, which by this time were doing a sterling job and saved us the walk back up the steep hill path.

This event was slightly less frustrating than the aborted Red Bull Air Race of ten years ago (I was part of that traffic jam as well), but Longleat has been moving hundreds, if not thousands, of cars through its gates on a daily basis for the last 50 years. So why is it so difficult to get the cars off the main road into the car parks for these special events?

Earlier access would have been good. I’m sure a lot of people would have loved to arrive early and take the chance to sit down on the grass for a picnic in the sunshine, or avail themselves of the onsite catering, Longleat wanted to maximise revenue and kept the safari park open, up until half an hour before car park opening time. I would suggest they do one or the other on the day, safari park or concert in dramatic surroundings. Which is it to be?

As for Longleat hosting the Glastonbury Festival? “You’re havin’ a giraffe!”

Nick Machin, North Bradley