Remarks made by long standing BBC presenter Sara Cox have left showmen and showwomen up and down the country OUTRAGED that anyone could make such flippant and derogatory remarks against an entire industry LIVE on any national broadcaster.
On her show on Tuesday March 15 on BBC Radio2 they asked listeners “Sara wonders what’s the most random, rickety ride you’ve ever ridden on. Was it a camel, a unicycle or a clapped out bus. Let her know!”
Cox then commented, in response to a listener’s reported experience of a ride at a fair: “That’s the thing with small local fairs isn’t it, their roller-coasters and rides are held together by rusty screws, Blu Tack and crossed fingers”.
These remarks are not at all helpful to an industry which has been the lifeblood of many show families for generations and has been decimated the past 2 years by the COVID19 pandemic.
Martyn Bolt a councillor in Kirklees and an Honorary Member of The Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain told Showmen Times “I am very concerned that in today’s society broadcaster’s on the BBC primetime shows would make inflammatory comments about the Showman’s community with no consideration to the harm and prejudice it may insight in their huge audiences”
Since the show aired both the BBC and OFCOM have received a large number of complaints.
I think Sara comments was unprofessional
We work hard in our industry health and safety
Is paramount even if we here the slightest squeak
We inveterate straight away. The rides and side
Shows go through a yearly mot like a car but
With more detail everything striped down checked
X-ray all steel work hydraulic parts checked then all
Put back together for a government Enginer to give it the thumbs up. Covid as been a strain on the fair ground industry then you here Sara comments not nice to hear. I think she should apologise to the industry
An entire industry is up in arms about a well known radio personality,
Who made some off the cuff comments regarding the safety of travelling funfairs,
Weather or not she was making these comment in a jovial way is irrelevant she made derogatory & inflammatory remarks about an industry struggling to survive in difficult times following a 2 year absence from earning a living due to Covid,
Millions of people listen to her show, not all the listeners would take it seriously but many thousand may well, because the comment were made by someone in the public eye
These remarks made by Sara Cox of Radio 2 were totally unacceptable and the damage may well be done, even if she made a public on air apology she can’t take back the words she aired to millions of people or the potential damage to the industry that may well be a result from her comments
The fairground industry and the people who own and operated travelling funfairs take safety very serious, with constant maintenance and annual testing of all equipment to ensure safety at all costs
A trip to the fair is in fact a very safe activity. You are actually more likely to be injured travelling to the fair than at it
The Safety record of Travelling Fairgrounds is 2nd to none
So understandably the industry is very upset about these comments from a very public figure
Many hundreds of complaints have been made to the BBC who have responded by saying and I quote
BBC response
Sara made an off the cuff comment in response to a listener text about rollercoaster rides and was referring to her own childhood memories of fairground rides and not present day standards.
She did not mean to offend any of her listeners and the comment was in no way intended to be derogatory to local fairs.
This is in my opinion totally unacceptable
Public figures have a responsibility to conduct themselves in a proper manner and not use there position to make comments on air that could may well damage a communities way of life and there way of making a living
These off the cuff comment may well put people out of business or put people out of work, but that’s OK because she is Sara Cox a well know Radio Personality, who can say what she likes without consequence on national radio
That’s the BBC for ya the sooner they go the better it’s only a matter of time