THE organisers of a fireworks display held in the grounds of Gosford House have apologised after traffic chaos resulted in the show being delayed by 45 minutes.

The November 5 event, organised by Fawkes Festivals, was sold out, but visitors arriving by car experienced lengthy delays.

Organisers said that access issues were due to “unticketed cars entering the one-way system” into the estate, by Longniddry.

A Fawkes Festivals spokesperson said: “We want to share our sincere apologies to everyone who was held up in traffic this evening.

“Tickets were sold out for this event, which was modelled on a capacity to facilitate parking and effective traffic management.

“Unfortunately, due to many additional unticketed cars entering the one-way system and others stopping to drop off guests without tickets, the traffic became very crowded.

“Customer safety is of paramount importance and our event team worked very hard to manage this situation. We took the decision to delay the display, allowing ticketed guests to gain entry safely.”

A number of attendees criticised the organisation of the event following the fireworks display.

One person said on social media: “What an absolutely epic fail of an event. Four hours of a massive waste of time. Couldn’t see the ‘entertainment’ as they weren’t on a stage high enough for a field of people.

“Nothing for older kids to do. Portaloos had no lights. Had to fight with staff just to get back to the car to get a football so we had something to do. Ran out of parking spaces for the 7,000 people they claimed to be in attendance. Fireworks were almost an hour behind schedule. Won’t ever book this again. Such a disaster.”

Another added: “Fireworks were very good; however, the event was really let down by the parking issues.

“I don’t think this can be put down solely to unticketed cars entering and people being dropped off.”

One visitor said: “Great night had at Fawkes Festival at Gosford House.

“Pity about their traffic management: an hour and 40 minutes to go 2.5 miles to get in!

“Fireworks delayed 45 minutes and only just made it in time to see them! Great fireworks and entertainment, and the donuts and hot chocolate hit the spot!”

A spokesperson for Fawkes Festivals said: “Organisers did all they could to manage the traffic.

“Unfortunately, due to the amount of people who showed up without a ticket, it was impossible to manage.

“We are looking into how we can address this in the future and apologise for the problem.”

The spokesperson would not comment on whether refunds would be issued to those who were not able to enter the site in time for the fireworks but said that each case was being dealt with on an individual basis.

A spokesperson for Gosford House added: “We are aware that there were issues with traffic and the decision was made to delay the fireworks display to allow ticketed guests to gain entry safely.

“The safety of visitors is our top priority, and the event team worked very hard to manage the situation.”

The spokesperson said that Gosford House was working with organisers to deal with complaints and was supporting investigations into issues.

Malcolm Duck, chair of Gullane Area Community Council, said that he hoped lessons could be learned.

He said: “I know there were some issues with the traffic and I am also aware that Gosford House have put on a lot of fantastic events over the years.

“It is disappointing that something clearly didn’t go quite right with this one, but I am confident that the organisers will do their best to learn from this in the future.”

Fawkes Festivals has asked anyone who experienced issues on the night to contact them by emailing info@fawkesfestivals.com