Up to 15,000 PS fans?

Tuner get-together got out of hand: authorities put the brakes on

Thousands of tuners flocked to Pachfurth in Lower Austria on Saturday. Numerous visitors tried to fight their way to the venue on foot.

(Bild: Scharinger Daniel)

Nothing was going on around the so-called Speedworld in the district of Bruck an der Leitha (Lower Austria) on Saturday. The reason was a meeting of tuning fans, who naturally arrived by car. This resulted in kilometers of traffic jams and the police had to intervene.

According to the operators, Pachfurth is home to "Europe's most diverse and modern driving event location". On Saturday, a meeting of tuning fans from various nations took place here, which apparently attracted them in droves. The access road from Bruck an der Leitha, the L211 highway, soon became gridlocked. The police had to regulate the traffic from the highway exit, as the columns of cars sometimes backed up as far as the A4.

Visitors left their cars parked
Nevertheless, some owners of powerful racing cars sought their own alternative routes, sometimes criss-crossing the town of Bruck, but also driving on country lanes. A number of visitors even abandoned their pimped-up cars and tried to make their way to the event site on foot.

According to a report in the "NÖN" newspaper, the municipal leadership in Bruck an der Leitha is highly irritated by the mega-event in the neighboring town. "We were not informed about the event in Pachfurth in advance", Deputy Mayor Roman Brunnthalter (SPÖ) is quoted as saying.

The police hit the brakes at the tuning meeting (symbolic image).

(Bild: ©Moose - stock.adobe.com)

Authorities pulled the emergency brake
According to "Krone" information, the event was initially approved for just under 3,000 visitors, but witnesses speak of up to 15,000 horsepower fans who wanted to enter the grounds. Figures that the police could not confirm when asked by Krone. "However, we assume that the maximum number was exceeded by at least double," says spokesman Johann Baumschlager.

As a result, the concert planned for the evening was canceled by the organizer and the event was broken up. The visitors were informed of the premature end by megaphone. According to the police, the departure was generally calm, but the list of reports is long. This is because the regional traffic department carried out checks: 111 reports and 27 organ mandates were issued. One person had to surrender their driving license for driving under the influence of alcohol. In addition, 15 license plates were confiscated. The organizer itself, an association, was also reported to the district authority for disregarding the regulations.

"We can only be glad that nothing happened on site", warns Chief Inspector Baumschlager, adding that the rescue and fire department response plans were not tailored to such a large crowd, which could have led to a catastrophe in an emergency. The operation was officially over for the police at around 10.15 pm.