Urgent call for support for Peterborough bus festival at risk of ending

Nathan Merryweather said the festival needs nine more bus entries or the 2024 festival will be cancelled

An urgent call has been made to bus enthusiasts to stop a festival from being cancelled.

For 12 years BusFest, hosted in Whittlesey, Peterborough, has gathered vintage, restored and modern buses and coaches from across the UK.

Nathan Merryweather, 30, started the festival when he was 18 years old. He said he needed nine more bus entries or the 2024 festival would be cancelled.

He said: "We need support, or we won't be able to do [BusFest] again."

Mr Merryweather added that the popularity of similar events across the country had impacted attendance at the Cambridgeshire festival.

He said: "We started in 2012 with about seven or eight buses, at our peak we have had about 50 on display.

"Now we are struggling to get entries. We used to be the only event on that weekend but more and more [events] are popping up, so people are going to ones closer to home.

"I need nine more entries, if we don't get them, we will have to cancel... and that will be it, we will not be coming back."

He added that it cost of hosting the event had increased and was now about £1,500.

Mr Merryweather (centre) started the festival when he was 18 years old in 2012

"We need support, or we won't be able to do it again, we can't spend money like that if we don't have the support.

"Members are disheartened, but we have had a good run [even] if it has run its course," Mr Merryweather added.

Since its first gathering in 2012, members of the BusFest group have helped to put on the events.

If the festival goes ahead, the Fenland BusFest 2024 will be held on the 19 May.

Mr Merryweather urged people to help the event to keep operating by entering a vehicle by 24 April.