Motorsport fans remained at the heart of Donington Park’s plans today as the landowner, Wheatcroft and Son Limited, and circuit leaseholder, Donington Ventures Leisure Limited (DVLL), confirmed that they have reached an agreement which they hope will move a step closer to securing the future of East Midlands’ parkland circuit Donington Park.

The settlement was reached after court proceedings were issued by Browne Jacobson LLP, acting on behalf of Wheatcroft & Son Limited, seeking £2.47m in rent arrears and forfeiture of the circuit lease.

The Motorcycle Circuit Racing Control Board (MCRCB) inspected Donington Park circuit today and has granted a track licence ahead of the scheduled third round of the 2009 ViSK British Superbike Championship in association with Pirelli on May 23/24/25. The inspection was necessary following recent structural modifications as part of the circuit’s Formula 1 Grand Prix project.

Many traders have been predicting that it was only a matter of time before the high rents being charged by many shows would result in a lack of support from traders and shows being cancelled. It would now appear that we have reached this point, with bike & other shows being canceled due to the lack of support from traders.
 
We have seen rents continue to rise over the past few years, while taking's have continued to drop. It was only a matter of time before some shows became uneconomic for traders to attend, and we would now seem to have reached that point.

We will no doubt see more shows struggle to get the necessary numbers of traders to make a show viable over the next year, and there is now an increasing number of traders who are turning their backs on the larger shows, in favor of small events with a realistic rent.

As trader's know organizers from other show's will often visit a show and canvas traders during the show and stop for a chat, it is normal procedure. So you can imagine the astonishment when someone associated with another show was asked to leave the Excel show, and escorted from  Excel.

Fortunately the person concerned was able to get a refund of the £18.00 ticket which had been purchased to obtain entry, but was none the less shocked at such strange behavior.