Take That Cardiff - Ended Up Coming Home !

liz_uk

Left Gloucester at 4pm last night.. arrived in cardiff at gone 7pm - traffic all the way was horrendous, it should`ve only taken an hour and a half.

Headed for the millenium stadium, and found the police had closed the road and the NCP directly opposite it.

We headed back out of the centre and arrived at the grosvenor NCP, which by this time was full.

There were cones everywhere to stop you parking on the road.

We decided to do another lap of the centre to check for any spaces we may have missed, but when we went to drive back through, the police had shut the ENTIRE centre and weren`t allowing anyone to drive through.

We drove back towards the castle and had to wait in a queue for approx half an hour, then discovered all the side spaces by the castle were taken.

Passed another NCP which was full and were approx 3 miles out of the centre at this point..

it was coming up to 8pm and it was getting absolutely ridiculous. the 2 warm up acts had both been on already and take that were due to start at 830pm.

We knew we weren`t going to make it in time as we`d have to walk at least 4 miles. and coming back out of the concert at gone 11pm, in the dark, having to walk all that way and then drive back home in loads of traffic was not looking appealing either all for the sake of take that.

So we headed back home.

I was shocked at the amount of parking, or lack of it, and the fact we were not told that it would be like this.

This is the first time we had been to cardiff for a concert and definately the last !!!!!!!

jennybear

I am from Cardiff and they close off all the roads in the city centre for every single event that comes to the stadium due to the location. The local radio stations were doing updates and reminding any travellers coming in to the city of the road closures and pointing out the park and ride facilities that were available. I'm sorry if this sounds a little rude but what did you expect to find parking wise with a concert that had over 55,000 people going to it, especially considering the doors for the concert opened at half past three? It is not up to anyone to advise you of the parking situation, it is something you should research before coming - I know I always do when I go to an event in another city. Am slightly intrigued as to which NCP you passed that was three miles out of the city centre though- the furthest I know is about a mile tops!

Fran

jennybear wrote:

.... I'm sorry if this sounds a little rude but what did you expect to find parking wise with a concert that had over 55,000 people going to it, especially considering the doors for the concert opened at half past three? It is not up to anyone to advise you of the parking situation, it is something you should research before coming ....

I think that is rude, and not very welcoming! It's up to Cardiff to get their act together and have suitable traffic signs in place. This shouldn't happen!

secretdancer

As a local resident I'm used to the traffic congestion on event days. With the Millenium Stadium hosting rugby, football, music and other events, officials that organise events are used to dealing with the inherent problems such as traffic. They do the best they can under the restricted circumstances a large stadium smack in the middle of a capital city places upon them. There will inevitably be individual problems such as the one you described and I'm sorry you had to experience them, but as the earlier poster stated a little ground work might have helped.On event days a lot of the city is closed of to traffic for a certain period for obvious reasons. Fifty or sixty thoushand people descending on a compact city centre combined with city centre workers heading home is a logistical nightmare. Closing off the city centre streets adjacent to the stadium is the best hope of avoiding gridlock and the safest. There are of course routes through the city kept open to keep traffic moving, but the area around the civic centre is closed and used for parking coaches and buses. There are a limited number of ncp sites in and around the city centre, all within easy walking distance. Obviously these will fill quickly as they are usually the first port of call for visitors to park - and rightly so. What makes the system work well however is the park and ride service operated on match days. Visitors can park their cars far enough away to avoid congestion within the city centre and be bused into the centre. It's very well signposted and I'd be very suprised if this was not in action yesterday.After events vehicles are ushered out of the city as quickly as the roads dictate. There will obviously be congestion but I think this would be true of any large event in any city centre. It would be silly to assume otherwise. Cardiff does well when hosting events. It is a logistical nightmare for officials. Imagine what it's like on FA Cup final day when you have supporters from two visiting clubs in the city. That's up to 70,000 supporters from out of town.I can sympathise with you but give our city a break!

pin

jennybear wrote:

I am from Cardiff and they close off all the roads in the city centre for every single event that comes to the stadium due to the location. The local radio stations were doing updates and reminding any travellers coming in to the city of the road closures and pointing out the park and ride facilities that were available. I'm sorry if this sounds a little rude but what did you expect to find parking wise with a concert that had over 55,000 people going to it, especially considering the doors for the concert opened at half past three? It is not up to anyone to advise you of the parking situation, it is something you should research before coming - I know I always do when I go to an event in another city. Am slightly intrigued as to which NCP you passed that was three miles out of the city centre though- the furthest I know is about a mile tops!

Got to agree with this statement.

liz_uk

I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO CARDIFF BEFORE and on the website, it mentioned about the park and ride. My friend has a problem with her leg and cannot walk far, hence why we were hoping to park closer, as the park and ride drop off point is a good mile away from our entrance gate.. We had no idea it would be like it was and presumed they`d have SOME parking in the city.

We always go to the Nia and nec and have had no problems there, as they can cater for the large audiences.

I`m not having a go at cardiff, I just think the council need to re-think things alittle! I`m sure we weren`t the only ones having problems last night !

We did research beforehand and printed off all the ncps and on road parking maps (most of the centre NCPs were closed)

matto

Best way to get there is by train.

If trains back are too early park in Newport and catch a train to/from there. Only don't park in the multi-storey right on top of the station as that closes at 9pm, round the back of the station is your best bet. With any luck your car will still be there when you get back.

shabbadoo

I have lived in Cardiff all my life and have watched the city flourish into the vibrant centre it is today. I admit that it is not your London, nor your Manchester. It is a young city, still trying to cope with the vast amount of traffic brought in over the last decade. But this is certainly not to say that it hasn't monitored the problem of increased traffic congestion.

I sympathise with your situation and that you were forced to give the concert a miss after trying to find a parking place. But at the same time, there are plenty of opportunities in Cardiff to ensure that this disappointment can be avoided. I know for a fact that park and ride signs are visable from the M4, usually designating two particular complexes for opposing teams which compete in the Millennium Stadium on match days. These signs are splattered all over the A48 (main route into Cardiff from the east) and the A4232 (main route into Cardiff from west) and I'm sure they give ample time for anyone to secure a space. With this in mind Cardiff is still a small city - I can only apologise to visitors that parking is often inadequate. Yet to say the city isn't doing anything about it is far from right.

In relation to the M4 traffic around Newport on the approach to Cardiff around 4-6 in the evening, it is always horrendous. It is so bad, that the Welsh Assembly Government have seriously considered building a relief motorway to ease congestion, and now I believe it has recently been given the go-ahead. Again, an inconvenience at present - but local radio stations do give warnings to such traffic.

I do not write here to antagonise; I am merely agreeing with the poster above who seems to be a fellow Cardiffian. I am also not intending to be rude in any way, but I would like to state how well Cardiff has staged concerts and sporting events in the past. In addition, no-one should recieve the misconception that Cardiff is incapable of hosting an event of this kind because it certainly can.

libitina_2

Fran wrote:

I think that is rude, and not very welcoming! It's up to Cardiff to get their act together and have suitable traffic signs in place. This shouldn't happen!

I disagree, Jennybear was very polite and not at all rude.

liz_uk

Shabbadoo, i totally agree with you. As I have always been to birmingham for events and there has never been any problems with traffic or parking, I merely wanted to vent my dissapointment of the situation last night.

I`m not saying I hate cardiff, heck the shops looked fabulous and I have 3 mates, a couple of which live in cardiff and one in Magor..

I just think if 55,000 are going to flock to a city, then the definately need to do something more about access and parking.. a relief road is a bloomin marvellous idea !!

It didn`t help that on the way home, we took the wrong turning and ended up going up the M50 towards abergavenny ! LoL

I`m just putting it down to one of those things.. some of my friends who did get to see the concert left at 10:30 in the morning as they had standing tickets... we had seated and therefore left later as the standing folk would be trying to get to the front.. and we had allocated seats !

Aww well, you win some, your lose some !!

claire_bargains

As a resident of a small village near Cardiff, I can kind of see both sides here -I am the first one to admit that the parking is not the best in Cardiff, but personally if I had friends in the city I was visiting I would always pick their brains - it is a bit inevitable that there would be some sort of road closure.
I'm afraid that it is one of those things that happens if large events take place outside of London..... I have been to events at the Birmingham NEC and even with their car parks etc, it still turns into a complete fiasco!