Marijke and Ruud van Henten from Heemskerk were very much looking forward to their visit to Formula 1 on Saturday and Sunday in Zandvoort. Still, the trip to the circuit was a bit of a disappointment. “We have difficulty walking and we had to walk so much,” says Marijke. “It was just badly arranged and we are still recovering.”
As true Formula 1 fans, they decided last year to go to the races in Zandvoort with a couple of friends for two days. Beforehand, they had extensively looked at the DGP website and asked if help could be arranged for them, since all four of them have difficulty walking.
“I have a partial spinal cord injury and walk with a walker. My husband has lung covid and our friends also have lung covid and a hernia,” says Marijke. “I couldn’t find anything on the site beforehand and I didn’t get an answer to my question via the chat either. On the phone they said that something could be arranged on the spot, but that just wasn’t the case.”
“We have been on the road for two hours from the bus to our seats in the stands”
From Heemskerk they left by car on Saturday towards Amstelveen, where they got on the bus. “In Bloemendaal we were knocked out and we had to walk two kilometers to the entrance, while it was said beforehand that this would be 50 meters.”
Marijke is outraged that the organization has treated them and other people with walking difficulties in this way. “It took us an hour to get to the entrance. In between we sat to rest and we also saw other people with wheelchairs and walkers who were having a hard time.”
‘Up a hill, down a hill’
Once on the circuit, Marijke and Ruud still had to cover quite a distance to their place in the stands between Turn 10 and the Hans Ernst Bend. “There was absolutely nothing to arrange there, we received no help. We had to go through the dunes up a hill, down a hill. We took turns sitting on my walker to rest. We were on the road for two hours from the bus to to our seats in the stands.” Once there, they really had to recover from the arduous journey.
The couple from Heemskerk cannot believe that the VIP guests of Formula 1 were taken to their places by road with cars and that this was not possible for them. “It was just so badly arranged for us. We actually didn’t want to go on Sunday anymore, because we were really devastated from Saturday.”
Disabled place
Beforehand, Marijke and Ruud had looked at disabled tickets for the race, but because those tickets were sold in pairs, they could not go together with friends. That’s why they decided to buy ‘regular’ cards. Marijke does not just want to occupy a place that is actually intended for someone in a wheelchair.
The Dutch Grand Prix, organizer of Formula 1 in Zandvoort, says in a reaction that they find it annoying for the couple and their friends. “It sounds like a rough journey,” said a spokesman. The DGP is currently not aware of any more reports of visitors who have difficulty walking and who have experienced the journey as problematic.
To evaluate
“We have a huge webcare team, which has been busy answering questions beforehand. So I can’t say how it is possible that their question has not been answered. We have extra-care buddies driving around the site to help people help those who have difficulty walking. And it is indeed a very large area.” The DGP will evaluate soon and will also include the transport of people with walking difficulties.
Ruud and Marijke finally took a bicycle rickshaw from Haarlem to the footbridge, near the circuit, on Sunday. And that was a lot easier to do than the long walk on Saturday. But they don’t plan to go back next year. “Certainly not, it’s really not worth it. We paid so much money for the tickets. The trip takes away from us the pleasure of going again.”