Blues festival event organisers are confident in licence bid
TICKETS for a music festival, cancelled last year after the murder of biker Gerry Tobin, are due to go on sale today despite its organisers not having a licence to stage the event.
The Rock and Blues Custom Show, a bikers’ music event which was stopped last year after objections by police, is due to take place at Pentrich in July.
Organisers have now decided to start selling tickets, despite not yet being given the go-ahead for a three-year events licence they applied for from Amber Valley Borough Council.
Hell’s Angel Mr Tobin was shot in the head near the M40 Warwick Services in August 2007 by members of a rival biker gang the Outlaw Motorcycle Club.
Fearing violent clashes between the two gangs and possible retaliation over Mr Tobin’s death, Derbyshire police objected to last year’s event and it was cancelled.
Since then, the police have been in talks with organisers One Percent Entertainment to ensure that this year’s event, if it gets the go-ahead, is safe.
A Derbyshire police spokeswoman said: “Last year’s event was cancelled and so this year police in Amber Valley are building a relationship with the organisers of the festival to establish a safe and trouble-free event for everyone.”
A council spokeswoman confirmed that the application had been received but said she could not say when a decision would be made.
She said: “The organisers are entitled to start selling tickets, however, they will be responsible for refunds if the event is not granted a licence.”
One Percent Entertainment managing director Simon Covell said the company had taken steps to ensure those people buying tickets in advance were covered if the event could not go ahead.
He said: “Since last year, the organisers of the Rock and Blues have been busy working with the police.
“Because of some problems last year, and to protect advance ticket sales, we will be selling tickets through seetickets.com.
“We have also taken out cancellation insurance so if the festival has to be cancelled because of bad weather we can refund everyone.”
He added that he was confident the licence would be granted soon.
“The date for representations has passed and there were only a couple of people opposed and that was due to parking issues in the village.
“But that is something we covered in our event safety plan so we’re confident it will not pose any problems,” he said.
Advance tickets for the festival are on sale for £35 through www.seetickets.com
One Percent Entertainment will cover the cost of the booking fee, at £2.50 per ticket.
Mr Covell said: “Times are hard and we wanted to do our bit during the credit crunch. We believe it is worth covering the booking fee if it guarantees the safety of the tickets.”
Organisers said that if granted a licence, the event would take place at Coney Grey Showground, in Pentrich, from Thursday, July 23 to Saturday, July 25.
There would be a number of bands performing as well as a collection of bikes from across Europe on show.
The licence would allow for up to 15,000 people to attend the festival.
Source: This is Derbyshire
Category: Festival News
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Ha! They’ll be responsible if they don’t get the licence? I’m still waiting for my refund from last year, so there’s no chance of me shelling out another load of cash ‘just in case’! Think I’ll go somewhere nice and warm instead!