‘I Had To Watch Justin Timberlake From A Car Park’

A concert-goer who “had to watch Justin Timberlake perform from a car park” has said music venues need to do more to make sure they are accessible to disabled fans.

Sara Stacey had booked tickets to see Timberlake and Olly Murs headline last week’s Chelmsford City Live festival when they went on sale in September.

But she said she ended up leaving Timberlake’s gig early after watching the start of the set from behind a wire fence in a car park because of a lack of accessibility inside Chelmsford City Racecourse.

The Essex venue has apologised and asked Ms Stacey for her advice to prevent similar issues in the future.

The 39-year-old from Wickford said she had visited the racecourse before without issue, but her experience meant she decided not to return to see Olly Murs perform on Sunday.

“I’d been trying to get tickets for Justin and Olly at the O2, but disabled tickets are so hard to get, so when I saw they were coming to Chelmsford, I thought it was brilliant,” she said.

However, when she got there, she said as there was gravel on the ground instead of hard flooring, her powerchair got stuck.

She said she returned to the car park because “that was the only place I would be able to go to see it”.

She added: “I stayed for a little bit and got really upset that I wasn’t able to see it. I’ve been able to see more of it from people’s recordings than in real life.”

Ms Stacey, a diversity and inclusion officer, said she had never faced accessibility problems at any music venue before and would be taking the racecourse up on its offer for her to return and give advice.

‘Good track record’

Chelmsford City Racecourse said it was “deeply disappointed” it could not resolve Ms Stacey’s issues on Friday night.

“Inclusivity to all our events is something Chelmsford City Racecourse takes very seriously, and as Sara has previously experienced, we have a good track record of delivering accessible events,” it said.

“For Chelmsford City Live, we aimed to deliver more accessible provisions than ever before, which is why we are deeply disappointed we didn’t meet Sara’s needs.”

The racecourse previously apologised to Timberlake fans who reported facing long delays as they tried to leave the concert.