Thousands of people attended a huge car meet in Plymouth last night, with vehicles queuing for miles along the A38 to get in. Billed as the city’s last ‘cruise’, the One Last Ride meet attracted car enthusiasts from as far away as London to Marsh Mills Retail Park.
More than a thousand cars are estimated to have turned up and organisers said thousands of people enjoyed the tightly controlled event. They said vehicles formed queues up to three kilometres long, stretching as far as the A38, to get in.
Jonathan Lo – organiser along with Jay Peters and Charlotte Adams – said there was a huge range of cars on display on Saturday night, including classics and racing cars. He told PlymouthLive: “Wow. What a turnout. The first cars started arriving at 6.30pm, even though the event wasn’t officially due to start until 7pm.”
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He said the shopping centre’s car parks were almost full even before the official launch as a result, saying: “We had to get people to park elsewhere.” He added: “There was a queue at least three kilometres long on the A38 of cars waiting to get into the shopping centre.”
However, he said volunteer stewards – including Ken Ostrow, Dan Cork, Aaron Kirby, Conner Halloway, Dan Parkins, Daniel Hexham and Hannah Read – worked hard to keep traffic flowing safely. And he said the event would not have gone as well without the support of Devon and Cornwall Police, saying: “Without them, it would not have been a night to remember.”
He said: “Everyone had the opportunity to park and enjoy the event. There was a great mix of cars, from classics to racing cars, from imports to American cars.
“People came from as far away as Essex, Cardiff, Cornwall, London and Torquay. This was really a Plymouth takeover of the vintage car meeting and we had nothing but great feedback from the public and show goers. There were over a thousand cars and several thousand people and families at the meeting.”
Reactions on social media were equally enthusiastic. James Bromfield, who attended in his converted van, wrote: “An absolutely fantastic night. Congratulations to everyone who made it possible.”
Cameron Howard-Nixson, who brought his Mazda MX-5, said: “Huge turnout. Definitely the biggest meeting I’ve ever been to.”
Ellea Robinson, who drove to the meet in her silver VW Beetle, posted: “A huge thank you to the organisers, stewards and police for making this absolutely massive meet at Marsh Mills the best ever.”
Organizers had said they wanted to “bring back the old cruising scene one last time.” They posted on social media: “Have you ever liked it when it’s just a BIG meet-up and you just show off your pride?”
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