Confusion over responsibility for traffic chaos after Red Bull Soapbox Race event at Stormont
There was confusion yesterday over who was responsible for traffic management around a major Red Bull event at Stormont Estate which resulted in major traffic disruption.
The Red Bull Soap Box Race made a spectacular return to Belfast on Sunday.
One of the world’s most entertaining sporting spectacles, it travels around the world to different venues every year.
The unique downhill race saw 40 fearless teams go head-to-head in a gravity-powered dash for glory, piloting their own homemade soap box machines.
The same race took place on the Stormont estate 18 years previously to the day.
However, there were various reports that the traffic volume linked to the event caused significant disruption – some 30,000 people attended.
One News Letter reader was travelling along the King's Road to Dundonald, parallel to the Newtownards Road, and had to abandon her car near Tullycarnet because traffic was not moving.
The News Letter also took video of traffic at a complete standstill on Abbey Road. A pilot who lives near Knock Road in east Belfast told the News Letter that he could not get back to his house.
At 3pm the TrafficWatchNI website gave no indication of the trouble – although the chaos had been ongoing for over an hour.
And while Translink advertised in advance, urging people to take public transport to the event, a News Letter journalist reported huge crowds at the citybound stops after the event – but the Gliders were already full before they arrived.
This is the third Red Bull event at Stormont, the same Soap Box race 18 years ago and an ice rink in 2017. The News Letter understands that all three events attracted a similar number of people – close to 30,000.
Red Bull confirmed that it consulted closely with the PSNI and Department of Infrastructure (DfI) in advance of the event. However none of them could explain why there was so much traffic chaos when the Belfast Marathon at Stormont a few weeks previously passed off smoothly with similar numbers of people.
DfI offered little comment, simply saying that it “did not organise this event”. It did not answer a request for further clarification about TrafficWatch NI, which it runs.
Invited to respond, a Translink spokesperson said: “We worked closely with event organisers ahead of the event, putting on additional Glider capacity, frequency and staff in place, amid heavy traffic congestion, to support visitors travelling to and from Stormont.” There was plenty of capacity available on trains operating along the Bangor line, it added.
PSNI Chief Inspector Philip Robinson said it was “a privately-run event” which took place within the grounds of Stormont Estate.
“As per any privately-run event, the event organisers are responsible for their own event management and traffic management plans,” he added.
“The plans for the event did not require police to use emergency powers to manage traffic on the roads, however, when it became clear to police at around 3pm, there was a significant build-up of traffic in the Stormont area, and people leaving the event due to the weather, police responded to manage and divert traffic accordingly which was then successfully cleared.
“There were a significant number of vehicles parked inconsiderately, mostly in tight residential streets, which led to the significant build-up of traffic at that time."
He referred any further queries to Red Bull. Responding to his comments, a Red Bull spokeswoman said: “As with previous events and future events, we closely cooperated with the appropriate authorities.”