Heveningham Hall fireworks: Ipswich woman's anger at queues

The woman, who gave her name as Alyssa, purchased three tickets to the Heveningham Hall fireworks show, near Halesworth, on Saturday.

She said she joined a queue of drivers, estimated to be between two and three miles long, shortly before 5pm.

Gates to the landmark hall's grounds opened at 4.30pm for the event.

Alyssa said she moved "about half a mile" in two and half hours and claimed she was assured by a steward that the fireworks would not start until everyone was in and parked.

Organisers of the fireworks display said the show only started at 7.45pm, when the queues subsided.

However, Alyssa said the fireworks had been set off 10 minutes before she reached the car park, having already missed Scouting for Girls' pre-fireworks gig.

Last year, the Heveningham Hall fireworks show organisers apologised after many people were unable to get into the venue due to gridlocked traffic.

People who missed the show last year were given a refund, but Alyssa said she has not got her money back.

She said: "About two to three miles from the event it came to a standstill. We were stuck for two and half hours, and moved about half a mile in that time.

"By the time we got into the car park the fireworks had already started and we missed Scouting for Girls.

"If we had stayed we would have only got the end of the fireworks. I got really riled up by this.

"We know there would have been people in a similar situation. A lot of the people who were queuing behind us turned around."

The organisers said in a statement: "Unfortunately, with this type of charity firework event there are always going to be queues, which is why we open our gates at 4.30pm and advise people to arrive early.

"We monitored the roads throughout the evening ensuring that traffic kept moving and that there were no queues on the road or anyone waiting to get in when the fireworks started at 7.45pm."