“What we can do tomorrow is accept people that are in Park and Ride
(areas)…people that are in camping and that can walk in. We are strongly
advising anybody with a public parking ticket not to come tomorrow.”
Corporate guests, sponsors, media and others who park inside the circuit will
not be affected.
Phillips said without people staying away there would otherwise come a point
where incoming traffic would have to be directed straight past the circuit
and on to exit roads.
A crowd of 80,000, more than turn up on race day at some other circuits, was
expected at Friday’s two practice sessions on what was forecast to be the
wettest day of the British summer.
With many of the teams based locally, and with McLaren’s two British world
champions Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton having a chance of winning,
Sunday’s likely attendance has been put at more than 125,000.
Phillips said the refunds offered would cost Silverstone “an awful lot of
money’ without giving a precise sum.
He said: “It’s going to cost us a lot of money. I honestly don’t know the
figure, but it could be a lot more than hundreds of thousands (of pounds).
“I wasn’t here in 2000 but this is my 2000 I guess, isn’t it?,” he said. “This
(the race) is something I’ve been very proud of over the years and I feel I
almost could cry now.”
Problems started when a deluge of up to 40 millimetres of rainfall fell in a
12-hour period.
Across the country, the Environment Agency issued more than 40 flood warnings
and over 120 less serious flood alerts as a month’s rain fell in just 24
hours.
Householders in the worst-affected areas in East Anglia, the Midlands and
northern England were advised to move their valuables upstairs, roll up
carpets and put down sandbags.
There is no immediate end in sight to the wash-out summer, with meteorologists
warning that Britain is very unlikely to see a long spell of hot, sunny
weather during the Olympics.
However, the Met Office does say that the conditions when the Games are on
should not be as bad as they have been over the past month.
Bookmakers William Hill today cut the odds of rain falling during the Olympics
opening ceremony on July 27 from 4/1 to 1/1.