Fans ‘stranded’ after Justin Timberlake’s Chelmsford concert

Music fans have reported facing long delays as they tried to leave a Justin Timberlake concert.

The 10-time Grammy Award winner performed at Chelmsford City Racecourse, in Essex, on Friday evening as part of Chelmsford City Live.

But afterwards frustrated concert-goers said it had taken several hours to leave car parks as streams of vehicles queued for exits. One post claimed people were “stranded in a field”.

Essex Police said it was “liaising” with the organisers to resolve the issues before Saturday’s concert headlined by Duran Duran. The event’s promoters and the racecourse have been approached for comment.

Timberlake was the headliner on the first night of the three-day festival, attracting a crowd of about 25,000.

Duran Duran super fan Brigitte Larsen travelled from Denmark with a friend for the concert weekend and said she had witnessed people’s frustration as they struggled to get home.

“It turned into chaos,” she said.

“There were some very drunk people getting aggressive and banging on the sides of buses.

“It took some people three hours to get home. People were getting very angry.”

Bob Reed, landlord of the nearby Dog and Partridge pub in Great Leighs, said traffic before the concert had been “very, very hectic”.

“People took a couple of hours to get through the village to the racetrack and a lot of people were late,” he said.

“Even in the village, people were coming home from work from Chelmsford – it took 2-2.5 hours to get home, which normally takes 10 minutes.

“The traffic was horrendous in the whole area.”

A car fire on the A131 before the concert was believed to have caused some hold-ups.

After the event, as fans tried to head home, car parks became gridlocked as vehicles which had earlier been marshalled into rows tried to move off.

Another post said: “Justin Timberlake was brilliant but the whole evening has been overshadowed by the poorly managed traffic.”

Liam Smith, 34, who lives in Doncaster but is originally from Chelmsford, said he was “very excited” to see Timberlake in his home town.

But, referring to the parking issues, he added: “It just seemed like it was really not going to plan.”

Lauren Keeble, 39, from Maldon, said she felt “quite lucky” after finding out people had queued for several hours.

“There was a lack of signage when driving in and a lack of information leading up to the event.”

Ms Keeble said she was going back to the racecourse on Sunday to see Olly Murs, but feared “the same could happen again”.

A spokesperson for Essex Police said: “We are aware of issues people faced leaving Chelmsford City Racecourse last night following the Justin Timberlake concert.

“The event organiser is responsible for the management of people entering and exiting the venue.

“We are liaising with them to resolve these issues for tonight’s event.

“Our officers worked to try and keep people safe, including putting in place a rolling roadblock along the A131 to manage speeds along the road.”

They added: “We appreciate the frustration people felt last night but would ask that you avoid taking action that might put your safety at risk.”

Duran Duran, Nile Rodgers & Chic and JC Stewart take to the stage on Saturday.

Murs, who was born in Witham, said performing on Sunday would be the biggest gig he had ever done in Essex.