Big traffic jam

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32846, 21 February 1972, Page 1

Big traffic jam

(From Our Own Reporter)

NELSON, February 20.

A column of cars stretching back almost three miles from the Richmond Show Grounds disrupted the arrival today of many of the vintage and veteran vehicles completing the touring section of the International Rally.

Many cars clocked in more than an hour late but, because of the congestion, time concessions were allowed so that rally points were not unfairly reduced. The congestion on the main road leading from Nelson to Richmond began just before 2 p.m. By 3 p.m., a single lane of cars reaching beyond! the Nelson Freezing Com-i pany’s works back towards Stoke was barely moving. Rally cars were caught up in the congestion until the frantic efforts of marshals, some of them brought from Wakefield, pushed the rally! cars into a second lane and

hurried them towards the show grounds. Outside the grounds, harrassed traffic officers attempted to keep the traffic flow moving while still making pathways for the rally vehicles to proceed. However, once inside the grounds, major problems ended.

When the congestion was at its worst, rally entrants j were informed that because , of the traffic hold-up, no rally entrants should leave the grounds until the situation improved. The crowd at the show grounds today was by far the largest seen there, according to an old Richmond resident.