Kettering Billionaires 'biggest' biker meet cancelled due to Covid risk

A big bike meet planned on social media for Kettering town centre has had the brakes put on due to lack of risk assessment with organisers having to make a U-turn.

The Billionaires Bike Meet in Sheep Street, organised by Billionaires owner Drew Wilcox, was to take place tomorrow night (Thursday, September 10) but police, council chiefs and health officials were concerned.

Police and council officials visited Mr Wilcox's premises to discuss the proposed motorcycle and scooter gathering he had described as 'Northamptonshire's biggest ever bike meet' leading to its cancellation.

He said: "They are telling us to cancel it because it's a social gathering.

"We didn't expect the post to be shared as much as it was. It did scare me quite a lot. The police and the council said it's a social gathering.

"I didn't expect it to go viral, now thousands of people have seen it."

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police said: "The event organiser of this bike meet chose to cancel the event planned for tomorrow (Thursday, September 10) due to concerns raised by Kettering Borough Council, Public Health Northamptonshire, and ourselves.

“To hold a gathering of more than 30 people, an event organiser is required to provide the Council with a suitable and sufficient risk assessment that takes into account the risk of Covid-19 transmission.

“Following discussions with the event organiser regarding this, he decided to cancel the event tomorrow and will hold it at a date to be arranged in the future.”

Kettering is currently on the Government's Covid-19 'areas of concern' watchlist because of the number of cases in recent weeks, which the county's director of public health put down to young people socialising.

A spokesman for Kettering Council said: "Following the reports of a planned event at Billionaires in the town centre, officers from the Council’s Health Protection Team, together with

the police, have discussed the proposed arrangements with the licensee.

"The licensee has agreed that given the current climate the event will now not go ahead."

Mr Wilcox is planning to hold the event in the future.

He added: "Once this is all over we'd love to hold the event. We're going to get the whole town involved."

Message from the editor: Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the highest standards in the world. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers and consequently the advertising that we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news by buying a copy of our newspaper.