Horsham firm scraps plans for Christmas drive by after event ‘fails to meet expectations’

In a statement, Strobe Events said after hosting and supporting ‘countless successful events’ it is with ‘a great deal of sadness and disappointment’ that the business would be scrapping its Christmas drive by.

The event was planned to be held in a car park in Copthorne, near Crawley.

A spokesman for the family run firm added: “We have worked hard to build our good reputation in the event sector in the region.

“This year has been incredibly difficult for the nation, with the hospitality and event sector being hit particularly hard.

“We saw an opportunity for what we hoped would be an event to finish the year well, with some seasonal good cheer.”

The firm had worked tirelessly in a short period and a ‘climate of great uncertainty’ to pull together the Big Christmas Drive By, the spokesman said.

But he added: “Having now considered the feedback after the opening day, we recognise that the event is failing to meet expectations.

“We had hoped for the opportunity to respond to feedback by making small changes to the event.

“Unfortunately, the nature of the feedback posted publicly has now undermined the viability of the event.

“It is with a great deal of sadness and disappointment that we face the reality that the responsible decision to make at this juncture is the cancellation of the event.”

Everyone who bought a ticket will be contacted without delay by email to confirm that the event is cancelled, he said.

The spokesman added: “We have received more messages than we can possibly respond to individually, but you will be contacted again in due course to notify you of the next steps.

“It may be of little consolation, but we hope to reassure you that we are local people, family people, who embarked on the journey of planning this event in good faith and with the best of intentions.

“We unfortunately suffered a debilitating family bereavement at a time that could not have been worse.

“We have not set out to cheat anyone; this will not be a profit-making event and we will not benefit in any way from our efforts to host this event.”