14/05/2020
Following my last official statement in April and following the latest Government guidance on the Coronavirus outbreak, I want to update you all on our current situation here at Santa Pod Raceway. Firstly, I hope you are all well and bearing up under the strain of these unprecedented times. The whole Santa Pod team misses you all.
You will all be aware we have been unable to hold any type of events from mid-March to the 31 st May. We can also confirm that the current events in June have also now been suspended/postponed too. Whatever phrase we might use, they will simply not be able to happen.
As the months of non-activity roll on, this is having a monumental impact on Santa Pod Raceway, its ability to operate and trade โ which is currently non-existent.
Following the Governmentโs latest announcement, we now know that we are most unlikely to โturn a wheelโ before July at the earliest and thatโs a punt at best. We believe it may be possible to hold some events this year but what they might be, and to what level, we are still unsure. Any event, of course, will be subject to ensuring a safe environment and the personal safety of both our customers and staff.
So - we donโt want to make a decision yet on what future events may need to be cancelled, rescheduled or reformatted and we are pleading with you all to give us the time and space to work on our plan to survive this crisis.
As a seasonal business, we had already invested so much into our 2020 events calendar and beyond and if we receive no income this year, we can only survive by carrying forward this investment into 2021. After 24 years of operating, nurturing and fighting to develop the UKโs premier drag racing facility, I never envisaged writing a piece like this. But I am now. This means asking you โ our customers to please, please opt for the revised credit offering we have devised rather than a bullet-firing cash refund.
Santa Pod, like many other venues, needs your support to be able to survive this crisis.
To put it bluntly, if we are forced to refund all of our customers right now, we will not have sufficient cash to operate the business into 2021; tragically, after over 50 years the unique heritage that is Santa Pod would be gone.
During the coming weeks, we will continue to provide updates on specific events giving advance ticket holders the choice to switch to a different event, carry their ticket over to next season or accept a FULL credit (for the same event or any other events of their choice) which will be honoured for the next 24 months.โ
To be frank with you - the future of Santa Pod is in your hands but we have our plan and together Iโm confident we WILL get through this. I plead with you all.
I want to carry on my normal sign-off and say โ โSEE YOU AT THE TRACKโ
โStay Safeโ and Best Regards
Keith Bartlett
CEO โ Santa Pod Raceway
Please see our Covid-19 page here: www.santapod.co.uk/coronavirus.php
