Patrons urge racecourse to 'be honest' over refunds

Customers who have waited months for refunds from cancelled events at a racecourse have urged its owners to "be honest" with them.

Chelmsford City Racecourse has not hosted racing since March after its previous tenant, Great Leighs Estates Limited (GLEL), collapsed into administration with debts estimated at £30m.

Steve Austin, who paid £300 for four tickets to the race track in February, said he was "frustrated" by the lack of promised refund, adding: "I wish they'd be honest at the moment about where we are with this".

The BBC has approached the racecourse for comment.

On its website, the venue said the "unprecedented situation" had "removed the racecourse's primary source of revenue" and not all refunds had "been processed as quickly as we would like".

The BBC understands staff have not been paid for a number of months and although some refunds have been issued, there were ongoing delays with processing further payments.

Last month, an agreement was struck between a new operator, Arena Racing Company (ARC), the racecourse and its freeholder Moulsham Hall Estates Ltd to bring racing back to the site.

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) would still have to grant a licence.

Austin, 72, from Little Waltham, Essex, said he had been a regular patron of the racecourse until earlier this year, and had planned to treat his family to a meal and a night of racing for his son's 40th birthday at the end of April.

He said he received an email saying the event had been cancelled on 8 April, and that a refund would be issued within 28 days.

When weeks went past, he contacted the racecourse via phone calls and emails and was told that refunds were still being processed but it was a "manual process done by a small team".

"We're now in August and I wonder what's going on," Austin told the BBC.

"At the beginning, I felt very sad that the racecourse and the lovely asset to us locally, which I probably would have gone six times a year, was being taken away.

"But it's got to the point now where I feel very frustrated.

"I want my money back and I don't know if I'm going to get my money back. It's a lot of money to lose."

Another customer, who the BBC has agreed not to name, had booked tickets for the racecourse's Easter Festival never received a refund but managed to get the money back through her bank.

"It's happened to so many people, it's disgusting really," she told the BBC.

In a message on its website, the racecourse said: "We understand your frustration and remain committed to fulfilling all refunds as promptly as possible."

The site, near Great Leighs, was told it could no longer hold events with more than 10,000 people after traffic chaos and "catastrophic" failures in crowd management led Essex Police to say people could have died.

Earlier this year, after tenants Great Leighs Estates Limited (GLEL) fell into administration, the BHA rejected an appeal from GLEL's successor - Golden Mile Racing Limited (GMRL) - against its decision not to grant it a racing licence.

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