Event’s minority

Community Traffic Management Ltd has traffic managed the NYMR Railway in Wartime Weekend for four years. We have helped the organisation team drive through considerable upgrades in the health and safety of the event.

We now take responsibility for all parades over the weekend, both vehicle and foot. The Market Place is the focus of all the parades and (as visitors will have seen), no parade starts until the route is 100 per cent clear of any pedestrians. An army of stewards and police re-enactors help maintain the pathway.

On the day in question, I led the foot parade from Bridge Street to Market Place. I saw the gentleman in the pink beret, making a clear point of walking slowly up the middle of the Market Place. I also saw the NYMR member of staff attempting to persuade him to clear the parade route. I was sufficiently concerned so I highlighted this man’s actions to two PCSOs who were stood nearby. They attempted to move towards him, but could not get through the huge crowds.

The assertion that Mr Lawson was simply ambling up the street is disingenuous. He was quite clearly wishing to make some kind of statement and was intent on obstructing the carriageway.

I look forward to the debate Mr Lawson hopes to generate. I am aware that some Pickering residents are adversely impacted by the event. However, I am ever-present over the weekend and I have only spoken to two people who openly object, in the last four years. I therefore rather suspect he is in an exceptionally small minority? Indeed, a check of the Gazette online article reveals “zero” comments, which I rather think supports this suggestion?

The NYMR and Pickering town are as integral a part of the weekend as the thousands of happy visitors who attend the event. Transferring the event to the Showground would wholly neutralise the sense of history, atmosphere and location that the event carries.

Rich Houghton, Community Traffic Management, Scarborough