PH Meet - St Neots - Sunday 14th May

[I Am Milk]

Sharnbrook pricks.

So, so pleased to see their attitude hasn't changed. "It's for charity, so who cares about the locals."

Utter, utter tossers.

[ferrisbueller]

Rawwr said:

ferrisbueller said:

Some pretty heavyweight machinery on the news item.

Was that a PH meeting?

No. This is the lot who f*ck it up for everyone else. Take a look at the comments on the Facebook video; actually using the fact they raised £5,000 for charity as an excuse for p*ssing people off. I'm really, REALLY trying to avoid saying 'I told you so' but people need to accept that the car park we use is very close to a lot of residents, including a retirement home. As a local resident, I don't want my car/bike to be tarred with the w*nker brush but that's not a consideration for these guys because if there's an imposition, they'll just move on to the next location and f*ck that up, too.

That's always my fear with such meetings. Perhaps time for a different venue.

[Pupp]

ferrisbueller said:

That's always my fear with such meetings. Perhaps time for a different venue.

Unfortunately, this might be out of attendees' hands - the minutes of this meeting are not yet published but the news item was clearly celebrating the making of the Orders annexed to this report:

http://applications.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/moderng...

Pay close attention to the prohibitions, which are subjective apart from the 'two or more for purposes of congregating' one.

Administrative decision by councils are challengeable on grounds of irrationality and reasonableness within 3 months of being made if anyone fancies having a pop... (High Court process involving possible costs exposure so not to be underestimated and, no, a charitable donation will not render what has been done either irrational or unreasonable if the history is as described).

If the June meet runs and you attend, don't obviously congregate...

[Gretchen]

Congregate... I drive a yellow car. Wherever I park if there's a yellow car I'll park next to it. Meh. Congregate.

[Pupp]

Bear in mind the Magistrates trying whether or not 'congregators' have transgressed will not generally be getting the yellow affinity thing...

The Order, if made in the form of the draft annexed to the report, is a spectacularly inept instrument.

[ciciampi]

Hey Guys,

Not quite sure where all the 'hate' is stemming from?

I was invited to attend a Secret Supercar Meet in Bedfordshire early March 2017 and on arrival we joined up with the existing PH meeting there. I got speaking to the Owner of Ambiance Cafe who knew of our events @TheSharnbrook and he said we were more than welcome anytime - from there on in with the planning of our event hosted at Sharnbrook for Cars & Coffee Charity Cruise, we arranged to have our end of show cruise to St Neots.

Amil was extremely pleased with the turnout and yes we raised £4500 for charity that day however I do not condone the behaviour of drivers' pulling burnouts or any form of anti-social behaviour as is evidenced with your comments above it reflects on me & our business. I repeat I do not condone the behaviour of those acting in this manner.

We have 3-4 driveout/cruises a year with Wrest Park having been one of our locations as well as Shuttleworth in the last two years and as we have so many regulars we like to change the destination/route regularly. With Amil's support we chose the Riverside Car Park as a one-off cruise destination - NO intention to ruin it for the regular monthly PH'ers but from the sounds of it you also have issues from time to time with anti-social behaviour - unfortunately not everybody knows how to control their feet in front of some kids with cameras - peer pressure indeed!

I'm a passionate petrolhead, love everything about cars and love bringing people together with one common interest - if you know me then you know this to be true. As for the hate/name calling above, I'm not into all that but understand this is an emotive subject.

Reading between the lines and with my reasonable head on, the restrictions is from 7pm and overnight therefore PH Meets or any future cruise from Sharnbrook to St Neots' arriving in the morning or afternoon would not be affected. I personally spoke to the Police on the day and also stayed until the last cars had left, yes the police had had reports from local residents but they did not witness or feel there were any issues, but enjoyed the cars on show.

The Riverside Car Park was soon besieged with visitors enjoying the spectacle and Amil/Ambiance Cafe were ecstatic with the turnout, another string to our bow is helping local businesses too. If any of you would like to meet to discuss the above and comments you can write to me directly on [e-mail] or continue to respond below,

Regards

Ciro Ciampi (Prick - apparently)
General Manager
The Sharnbrook Hotel & VesuviO

[offshoreeddy]

ciciampi said:

Hey Guys,

Not quite sure where all the 'hate' is stemming from?

I was invited to attend a Secret Supercar Meet in Bedfordshire early March 2017 and on arrival we joined up with the existing PH meeting there. I got speaking to the Owner of Ambiance Cafe who knew of our events @TheSharnbrook and he said we were more than welcome anytime - from there on in with the planning of our event hosted at Sharnbrook for Cars & Coffee Charity Cruise, we arranged to have our end of show cruise to St Neots.

Amil was extremely pleased with the turnout and yes we raised £4500 for charity that day however I do not condone the behaviour of drivers' pulling burnouts or any form of anti-social behaviour as is evidenced with your comments above it reflects on me & our business. I repeat I do not condone the behaviour of those acting in this manner.

We have 3-4 driveout/cruises a year with Wrest Park having been one of our locations as well as Shuttleworth in the last two years and as we have so many regulars we like to change the destination/route regularly. With Amil's support we chose the Riverside Car Park as a one-off cruise destination - NO intention to ruin it for the regular monthly PH'ers but from the sounds of it you also have issues from time to time with anti-social behaviour - unfortunately not everybody knows how to control their feet in front of some kids with cameras - peer pressure indeed!

I'm a passionate petrolhead, love everything about cars and love bringing people together with one common interest - if you know me then you know this to be true. As for the hate/name calling above, I'm not into all that but understand this is an emotive subject.

Reading between the lines and with my reasonable head on, the restrictions is from 7pm and overnight therefore PH Meets or any future cruise from Sharnbrook to St Neots' arriving in the morning or afternoon would not be affected. I personally spoke to the Police on the day and also stayed until the last cars had left, yes the police had had reports from local residents but they did not witness or feel there were any issues, but enjoyed the cars on show.

The Riverside Car Park was soon besieged with visitors enjoying the spectacle and Amil/Ambiance Cafe were ecstatic with the turnout, another string to our bow is helping local businesses too. If any of you would like to meet to discuss the above and comments you can write to me directly on [e-mail] or continue to respond below,

Regards

Ciro Ciampi (Prick - apparently)
General Manager
The Sharnbrook Hotel & VesuviO

Hey Ciro

First off l agree that the hate is somewhat unnecessary, so let's simmer down there folks.

Second, Ciro I'm sure you know who I am as you and I have met on a number of ocassions either at Ferrari Owners Club events at the Sharnbrook or elsewhere, and I for one have respect for your ability to organise those events, cater efficiently and thoughtfully for attendees and make them the undoubted resounding success that they are.

What this is about, however, is the unsuitability of this location for the event that we're discussing. I felt it more appropriate to continue it here rather than over on FB which is, in my opinion, too public and unnecessary.

Let's not be all naive about it and pretend that you didn't know the kind of people who were attending or, in fact, the kind of event it would turn out to be. I've attended your events at the Sharnbrook and they are totally rev-fests, which everyone enjoys. It's your property and you're entirely free to conduct them there, and no doubt the residents who are local to the Sharnbrook expect noisy cars arriving and departing.

Residents of this small car park, located in the centre of a fairly small town, do not. And that's where the problem lies and it's one entirely of suitability. I haven't suggested for one moment that this car park is "only for PH meets" nor would I because it's a public car park. But the fact remains that you were aware that there was a PH meet held here, you were aware of the location and you were aware of it's suitability (or not) before you arrived. Hindsight is usually 20/20 and i think we can probably safely say that in hindsight you would have chosen a different location because of the debate that has gone on about this for a few weeks now.

I dont think I've actually seen you at one of the PH events but let's make this quite clear. It's firstly a public car park as you've pointed out, and you and anyone else is most welcome to attend. I'd be all up for you and I getting our heads together and making this a great meet for everyone going forward because you can clearly pull in the exotics better than PH by itself can and, at the end of the day, that's what the meet is about; people coming and looking and appreciating all manner of cars, be they Lamborghini or Lotus or Lexus or Lada (OK, maybe not so much Lada). All that needs to happen for that to be such a great success, which both you and I and everyone else would appreciate, is a little respect for the residents and some thought as to can the location actually cater for the attendees. If people are going to come along, then there needs to be a mindset of "Would you like this outside your house at X o'clock if you weren't a car guy?", and then use the throttle accordingly. As someone commented on your own FB page, a Lamborghini bouncing off it's rev limiter isn't everyone's cup of tea and so this was a little inevitable.

So to summarise; I've run the PH events here now for about 18 months after a suggestion by another member to get something off the ground locally. They've been a resounding success and enjoyed by everyone and I think there's potential for more growth, although from reading the order I think there is little doubt we will have to find an alternative venue (and this would have happened with or without Ciro's recent meet so let's think about that before we all go ballistic). So, if the order is approved - highly likely in my view - another venue may need to be considered, but nobody wants the meet itself jeopardised and that, I suspect, is where the animosity is coming from, though again I agree it's not really called for. Let's behave like the mature folk that we are and try to come to a solution that works for everyone, preferably one with the sole aim of having some fantastic cars to look at and appreciate. As you have pointed out, the order is aimed not at this event nor my regular meets but at the anti-social bazzas in their Corsas, but it's going to affect them, and it's been useful to highlight these issues and hopefully allow us to resolve them and move forwards in a productive manner.

Edited by offshoreeddy on Thursday 25th May 07:01

[Pupp]

Just to try and clarify there is nothing in the published Order that time limits its prohibitions; it is clear enough from the report and background info that there are thought to have been problems 'out of hours', but these prohibitions apply full time and breaching the same could result in a criminal conviction.

Similarly, I have seen nothing that indicates the supercar event was the triggering factor; there is a long history of perceived problems in the affected locations. Probably just bad luck the event coincided with the Order being worked up after a long gestation and the media have obviously been selective in the footage they have used.

Looks to me like it will likely have been signed off immediately after the 22 March meeting but the Council should be able to confirm. They could also be asked to clarify how predominantly late night problems are proportionately addressed by imposing a 24/7 prohibition (proportionality and reasonableness are key strands of administrative decision-making so prohibiting something otherwise lawful in the absence of apparent evidence it was really a problem could call into question the legal validity of the Order).

[feef]

This appears to be the relevant enforcement notice, which came into effect on the 1st April

https://www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/media/2514/st-n...

[Zippee]

feef said:

This appears to be the relevant enforcement notice, which came into effect on the 1st April

https://www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/media/2514/st-n...

It's point 2 that would affect us and is quite worrying.

I do however, think that this has been a concern of residents for sometime and born out of night meets by the local boy racers, the recent Sharnbrook incident I guess being a sexier news item rather than having anything more to do with it.
It is a real shame as Eddy has put a lot of effort into organising what has become a very interesting and successful meet with people from all walks of life and a very eclectic mix of cars (Sunbeam Lotus, Ferret through to Lambo and F50) for which we will now, rather unfairly, potentially have to find a new home due to being associated with antisocial behaviour by way of being in a congregation of cars.

Any ideas then folks as to where next? I would have suggested Grafham but the £3 parking would put many off.

[offshoreeddy]

It certainly is quite annoying; it's a great location but we are for sure going to fall foul of the 'congregation' rule. I've had messages from a couple of local residents saying how much they want to keep the meet and it's no problem etc etc, but the problem is that all it takes is one irksome individual to report us and we're basically buggered. I'm not sure I fancy that so I have to say I think the days of the Riverside are numbered

Grafham is a good shout but yes, parking fees. Anyone else have any thoughts? Someone suggested the Co-Op but I can't seem them being too happy on a Sunday morning with 50-60 odd cars in the summer.

[Carpmart]

Can we not just 'tough it out' at the Riverside? The fact an order exists, doesn't automatically mean that the authorities would wish to enforce its use all the time? Surely judgement will be used?

I'm assuming that should residents call the police to enforce this order, we can have a sensible conversation with the attending officers and explain that the order is not directed at us and that we have support locally... Should we at this point then be told that we can't continue to use the venue and that they want to enforce this order at all times, irrespective of the 'nuisance' or otherwise parties are causing, then we know where we stand and will dissapointingly have to find a new venue!

[offshoreeddy]

Well, that is one possible option, yes. But I think everyone attending would need to be made aware of the situation in advance, whcih I can do on the initial post of course.

[Rawwr]

I'm quite friendly with the Eaton Oak and I'm going there shortly. They have a decent sized car park around the back and open from 11am on Sundays. Not a bad location as it's right on the A1 and B645 and not a *huge* number of houses around.

[offshoreeddy]

Rawwr said:

I'm quite friendly with the Eaton Oak and I'm going there shortly. They have a decent sized car park around the back and open from 11am on Sundays. Not a bad location as it's right on the A1 and B645 and not a *huge* number of houses around.

OK, perhaps see what they say. What's the car park size do you reckon, I'd say perhaps 50 cars? There is a new housing development right next door to it though...

[Zippee]

How about Roxton garden centre? I know the main car park may not be of use as it's likely to be busy but potentially the grass area to the side? They've also got a decent café inside for coffee and cake.

[93DW]

Could something not be arranged with Ciro? The Sharnbrook has ample space and a nice backdrop

[Rawwr]

offshoreeddy said:

Rawwr said:

I'm quite friendly with the Eaton Oak and I'm going there shortly. They have a decent sized car park around the back and open from 11am on Sundays. Not a bad location as it's right on the A1 and B645 and not a *huge* number of houses around.

OK, perhaps see what they say. What's the car park size do you reckon, I'd say perhaps 50 cars? There is a new housing development right next door to it though...

There is but I don't think anyone has moved in yet

I'll take a couple of snaps tonight but I reckon it must be about 50ish. I'll sound them out a bit tonight and see what they say. I don't think they'd be afraid of the increased business, that's for sure.

[Steve Barrett]

Maypole Farm, Kempston.?

[Gretchen]

Steve Barrett said:

Maypole Farm, Kempston.?

Isn't that just the, er, Maypole Farm (ex Flying Horse meet)? I've been before but a little far from St Neots, else I'd regular.

I've been part of a meet at Grafham before. The Harbour View Restaurant car park would be ideal. As might the residential/sailing club. I'm sure if we asked nicely they may consider a temporary two hour waiver of car park fees. The Wheatsheaf would benefit too. I'll make a few enquiries.