Criticism of lack of trucks at Worcester monster truck event

An event billed as Monster Truck Mayhem has been criticised for having only one monster truck in its main display.

A number of people who attended the show at Pitchcroft, Worcester, on Sunday criticised the event and its organisation, described it as “horrendous” and said it left traffic in the area gridlocked.

Organiser David Bailey said other events in the city on Sunday affected the volume of traffic on surrounding roads.

It was only advertised as a “‘monster truck’ not monster trucks” show, he stated, adding they had all the other things which were publicised including stunt cars and car crushing.

“I didn’t see any monster trucks at all,” Scott Pearsall told BBC Hereford and Worcester, saying it was “horrendous” and he wanted to leave after an hour.

Mr Pearsall said he and his family had to abandon their car and walk to the event due to the traffic and once there, they could not get near to a display as it was “overcrowded”.

The event on Sunday was promoted as including monster truck and stunt shows, monster truck rides, a Viking village and circus workshop with a family ticket costing £20 along with a booking fee.

About 1,400 people have joined a Facebook group called “Victims of Monster Truck Mayhem”.

Lesley Riach Phelps, who is part of the group and went to the show, told BBC Hereford and Worcester there should be refunds for all the disappointed customers.

“We thought we were going to see several big shiny trucks with giant wheels parked up in a big arena that would drive around and show off a bit,” she said.

Instead she said the only elements of the show her family got to see were “a small Viking re-enactment and two boys on motorbikes jumping over ramps”.

Event organiser David Bailey said he thought people had not “read the posters properly”.

“People said we didn’t have monster trucks – there was a delay with the truck as it needed to be repaired… it was only advertised as monster truck not monster trucks,” he said.

Mr Bailey said they did do a show and put on an extra one to “make up for the delay at the start”.

Responding to complaints about traffic, he said they had a plan in place and did not have an issue on Friday and Saturday before the truck event.

“On Sunday, the cricket was on, the university had an event on and were sending people to park at our event. There was a road closed in town too and it all had an impact on the roads,” he added.