Less than two weeks before the Wings and Wheels over Waikato air show is due to take flight, the resource consent process has stalled, a key performer has not been paid, some people have not received their tickets and the event organiser has not returned calls. Michael Cummings reports.
Ticket holders, sponsors and investors stand to lose millions of dollars if an air show to be held at Hamilton Airport on March 7-9 fails to get off the ground.
Investigations by the Waikato Times have uncovered a range of obstacles Air Show New Zealand organiser Ken Ross has to overcome, including a resource consent application that still cannot be processed because not all affected parties have given their approval.
As concerns about the event's prospects grow, a number of people involved in the show have contacted the Times complaining they cannot get hold of Mr Ross to finalise details. He has not returned Waikato Times calls this week.
Ticket holders and investors are worried they will not get their money back if the event doesn't happen. Organisers say that at least $1.15 million worth of tickets have been sold. And hundreds of thousands of dollars have been invested by exhibitors and sponsors.
Advertisements for the event have promised a classic car show of up to 3000 vehicles, a "great outdoors expo", stalls, rides, and food.
It is billed as the "largest air show event in New Zealand".
But the Commerce Commission confirmed this week it had received complaints about Wings and Wheels over Waikato and had launched an investigation.
The New Zealand Warbirds Association, one of the main performers scheduled to appear at the show, has not been paid. Association vice-president Peter Houghton said they were prepared to fly at the event but "we won't turn up unless we get paid in advance".
Murray Johnson, who owns a spa pool business in Auckland, had paid $500 for an exhibition lot but there is no water or electricity available and he wants to pull out.
Mr Johnson said when he signed up last September, Mr Ross told him he would be refunded if he was unable to attend.
But Mr Johnson said he has been trying to contact Mr Ross for about a month.
"I feel sorry for him if it's fallen over and he's made a pig's ear of it, but he needs to front up," Mr Johnson said.
He also paid $1280 for four tickets in November that still had not arrived.
"I would like to talk to the man (Mr Ross). I will get my money back. It may take a thousand years but I will get it back."
Another exhibitor, who asked not to be named, said she had paid the show's organisers $600 for advertising and feared she would lose her money if the event didn't go ahead.
The terms and conditions of her contract state: "Should the Event Company postpone or cancel the event, no refund or compensation will be entered into."
Meanwhile, Mr Ross seems no closer to obtaining resource consent from the Waipa District Council. Consent is not required for the airshow itself because it is a permitted activity at the airport, but it is needed for all the other planned activities.
Transit NZ is one of the affected parties which must give written approval before the council can process the consent application but it can't get hold of Mr Ross for the documents it needs to sign off on.
A spokeswoman for Transit said it supported the show's traffic management plan "in principle", but it needed insurance documents and an enforcement agreement from police before it could give its support formally.
If the show does not go ahead as planned, a condition of ticket sales could see organisers keep punters' money.
Wings and Wheels of Waikato's website,
www.airshow.co.nz, states: "There is no refund or exchange and no obligation is assumed by the air show organisers, should local district council resource consent be declined or revoked."[/quote]
http://stuff.co.nz/waikatotimes/4411693a6004.htmlso let the hunt begin , i want to find this bloody guy ken ross
anyone know who he is in the world of avaition ??
i hope he gets whats coming for him .. plus my $55 worth