Ashford Bowdler show axed in track repair blunder

A village show near Ludlow which was due to attract hundreds of visitors this weekend has been cancelled after a blunder by Network Rail officials over work to a nearby level crossing.

The show in Ashford Bowdler was due to have been held tomorrow and had been scheduled to avoid planned work on the level crossing in the village.

But contractors are now set to relay the track at the crossing all weekend due to a mix-up over dates – cutting the village in half and making the show impossible to run.

The work had initially been scheduled to take place from 11pm on Saturday until the early hours of Monday. But now contractors will be on site from 3am on Saturday.

Network Rail bosses have admitted they made a 'complete mess' of timings after show organisers were told they could plan their event for this weekend. The mix-up was discovered when Network Rail signs went up at the site earlier this week.

The show was due to feature a number of activities and proceeds were due to go to the village's St Andrew's Church. A number of people had booked hotel rooms to attend the event, according to organisers.

Rupert Coggon, one of the show organisers, said: "We have been heavily advertising our village open day for weeks and have people coming from far and wide.The whole village has spent a great deal of time and effort and money to prepare."

Fellow organiser Jeremy Lansdell said: "We will write to Network Rail to let them know how unhappy we are."

Keith Lumley, media relations manager for Network Rail in the Midlands, said: "We have made a complete mess of it. We advised local residents the level crossing would be closed on Saturday from 11pm till 3am on Monday. But unfortunately we made a mistake and the level crossing will be closed from 3am Saturday.

"We are relaying the track through the village where the level crossing is. To allow us to do this the level crossing must be closed.

"We offer our abject apologies for the mistake. There is nothing we can do now as the engineers, road closures, train times, men and materials have all been arranged."

By Peter Finch