KEY POINTS:
A miffed motorsport fan who claims his grandstand views at this year's Hamilton V8 400 series were so bad he and his friends left after a couple of hours is taking the promoters to court.
Anthony Van Kan, an architecture technician from Auckland, is among dozens of people who have complained about the views from their grandstand seats on Mill St.
Mr Van Kan and his three mates, who each spent $140 for their tickets, left just a couple of hours into the three-day event, peeved that the best view on offer was of rooftops.
Others have similar complaints.
One man, who bought 19 tickets including two for friends who had come from Australia, is also considering legal action and said it was unlikely any of them would return.
Promoter Dean Calvert has admitted the viewing glitch, but says it was the only blemish in an otherwise tremendous first-up effort enjoyed by 172,000 people.
Yesterday, Mr Van Kan said he would "definitely" be taking the promoters to the Disputes Tribunal.
"It's the only way things are going to get anywhere."
He said the matter had now become one of principle, rather than money.
"They can't do this stuff and think they can get away with it.
"It's affected a lot of people and most people haven't got the time - it's an apathy type of thing."
But Mr Calvert, who has already appeared at two Disputes Tribunal hearings about tickets, said the promoters had tried to be as up front as possible in settling the matter and were prepared to bring in a mediator to discuss the issues with Mr Van Kan.
He declined the offer.
Mr Calvert said the difference in price between a grandstand seat and general admission was $12.50, and the event included free public transport, concerts and views of the pit areas.
About 600 people had contacted the promoters about a 30 per cent discount on grandstand tickets for next year's event.
But Mr Van Kan declined this offer also.
"We appreciate the view wasn't as good as we would have liked either, and we went back and made an offer because we want people to continue to come to the event," said Mr Calvert.
Mr Van Kan said he was also considering legal action against the Hamilton City Council, believing it had some responsibility in inspecting the track and seating arrangements.
But a council spokeswoman said its monitoring covered the facilities' engineering and safety aspects, not the views from the grandstands.
