Motorists arrived at a park and ride site in Nottingham to find that their vehicles had been removed to allow Goose Fair operators to set up on the site. The Forest Park and Ride closed on Sunday (September 25) at 6pm but a number of vehicles were still parked on the site.
Around 30 vehicles were relocated to the opposite end of the car park at the Forest Recreation Ground. William Percival, chairman of the Nottinghamshire Showmen's Guild, said: "The council had to remove 30 cars from the site and put them at the other end of the Forest because the car park closed at 6pm on Sunday and people still parked their cars on there.
"They took pictures before they touched them and lifted them onto the back of a wagon and took them down the other end of the Forest onto the grass area near the football pitches and parked them back up there. It was just an inconvenience to the showmen and the council. There were signs all over telling everybody it was closed. There were big signs outside the entrance.
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"I believe half a dozen cars had been on there for over a week - I think there were two that were stolen and had been dumped. When you have a big-scale project like the Goose Fair every hour counts.
"People were still trying to get on there to park their cars yesterday. We had to put stewards on the gate to stop them coming in. It was a bit annoying as we had some big vehicles and were trying to manoeuvre things into position."
However, some motorists had their vehicles shifted out of the way earlier in the week while the car park was still officially open. Businessman Manjinder Boora witnessed what appeared to be some of the showmen pushing vehicles out of the way last Thursday, just before 9.45pm.
Mr Boora, who lives in Nottingham and is founder of 4TheEconomy, an e-commerce business, said: "They have no right to just move cars without permission. I’d be livid if they did that to my car. They appeared to be laying down the rides for Goose Fair but it was done prior to signage being put up. There were no signs to say you couldn't use the car park so the car owners were not at fault. Also, what right do they have touching other people's cars and moving them? It is a public car park and council owned. These operators do not work for the council.
"I saw them move three cars with no care in the world. One worker was spitting loudly on the ground and they were moving parts of the ride over other people's cars. Why didn't the council just close the car park and why were these allowed to start prepping for Goose Fair when clearly the car park was business as usual?
"Once they moved the cars they put barriers there and began moving parts of the ride into place. In one instance, they moved a car forward and then realised there was no need to as they put the barrier in another place. They just left the car in its new place. In another instance, I saw four people put rigorously using their hands to move a car to push it. They bought equipment to go underneath the tyre so this was all planned. Does this happen every year? It's a complete disrespect to the residents of Nottingham."
A city council spokesperson said: “The Magic Mouse rollercoaster is the largest ride at Goose Fair, and NET gives permission for its construction to start on Thursday evening, while the rest of Park & Ride remains open until Sunday evening when other rides can begin construction around it.
“Unfortunately, three cars were parked within the planned ride footprint this year. The ride operator used an industry recognised method of re-locating cars short distances called skates, which allow vehicles to be safely moved to an adjacent parking space.
“Due to the scale and complexity of setting up Goose Fair and the popularity of the Forest Park & Ride site, it is always a balance to maintain the operation of the Park & Ride facility for as long as possible, while allowing the safe construction of the event.”
Drivers are reminded that there are a number of parking restrictions in the streets surrounding the Goose Fair site which will be enforced in the run-up to and during the event. Anyone going to Goose Fair is recommended to use public transport to reach the site, with a tram stop at The Forest and plenty of bus services serving the area.
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