Northamptonshire Police and Northamptonshire Fire are on scene at Silverstone this week working together to keep hundreds of thousands of spectators safe at the Formula One British Grand Prix.
The Grand Prix is the UK’s largest sporting event, with more than 565,000 people expected to visit over the four-day festival, and with 175,000 people anticipated on site on race day on Sunday.
Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone visited the circuit on Friday (July 3) to speak with Police and Fire staff about the preparation that has been months in the making to ensure the event runs as smoothly as possible.
With headline music shows also taking place from Thursday to Sunday evening, the Grand Prix is a huge policing operation, with Northamptonshire Police deploying police officers, firearms officers, detectives, dog units, volunteers and more.
Danielle also heard how Police are mounting an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) operation to ensure all roads in the area near the circuit are covered to help detect, deter and disrupt criminal activity. She was also interested to see how Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology was again in use during the event to support security measures, ahead of the Force securing its own LFR capability.
Police have been working closely with Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service, as the Joint Operations Team, to make sure any risks have been identified and that agreed plans are in place for potential responses. The dedicated Command Team is based in the Joint Command Unit vehicle and Event Control within the emergency services village at the circuit.
Danielle was told about the work the Fire Service’s Protection Team has been doing with Silverstone in recent months to ensure that temporary hospitality venues and the on-site concert arenas are meeting the highest safety standards.
They are also carrying out daily checks at the many campsites in and around the track – where more than 60,000 people are camping – offering fire safety literature to campers on how to stay safe from fire risks and ensuring that safety regulations are met on site and in nearby accommodation.
Danielle said: “I know how much work both Police and Fire have been putting in over the last few months to ensure they are sufficiently prepared to deal with any emergency response.
“The British Grand Prix is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, with hundreds of thousands of people arriving in Northamptonshire, and the scale of the event is made real when you come here and see it for yourself.
“We want all of those people to feel as safe as possible, and this cannot be done by any one agency – so I am really impressed with the scale and quality of the joint prevention work that Police and Fire have done with partners.”
