Motorhomes banned from Cosford Air Show

Organisational chaos as air show approaches

The Cosford Air Show, northwest of Birmingham, off Junction 3 of the M54, would seem like an ideal event to visit in your motorhome but beware. According to the FAQs on the Cosford Air Show website, campervans are excluded from the site, but it doesn’t mention motorhomes. We called the organisers to clarify whether this included motorhomes and what kind of checks were involved. Commercial Manager, Marilyn Summers confirmed that all large vehicles, such as motorhomes, were excluded from the site because all the parking is on grass. If it rains, the organisers are concerned about vehicles churning up and sinking into the grass.

Previous Shows have suffered from massive traffic jams so this year there is a one-way system in place to try to keep it flowing and this year there are no tickets available on the day either. Air Show Director Clive Elliott explained, “In order to speed up entry and shorten queues there will be no tickets available on the gate this year. The change puts us in line with many other large public events and means we know how many visitors are coming and can deal with traffic and parking more effectively.”

The grey area concerns campervans and at what size of van it becomes a problem. Unfortunately this is going to be done on an ad hoc basis at the gate as Clive Elliot admitted, saying, “We recognise that for future years we need to formalise our policy and implement weight and size restrictions. This is not in place now so I am afraid we will have to rely on public and steward common sense as we have done for the last 25 years.”

At the moment, you can buy tickets for the Show online without having to state what kind of vehicle you are coming in. So, there is nothing to stop you turning up and taking your chances, especially if you are coming in a small campervan. If you are turned away at the gate, despite it being a one-way traffic system the Air Show has the facilities to get vehicles off the base. Also, when asked about refunds if you are turned away, Clive promised, “Yes if we refused someone entry we would refund them.”

One solution is to put down matting to make the ground more stable so even if it rains it is driveable by all vehicles, even motorhomes. Clive stated, “We have already started a trackway policy, but as you can imagine, we are a charity event and it is very expensive.”

The Air Show is a popular event, held on Sunday, 14 June, and includes plans for a Victory Village to celebrate the 70th anniversary of VE Day. This year also marks 75 years since the Battle of Britain and will be commemorated by the display of a number of fighters alongside the legendary Lancaster bomber. Tickets cost £22 for adults, under 16s go free and you can book online here.


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