A MAJOR event which has been running in Darwen for the past seven years has been scrapped by the town council.

The Pedal Car Grand Prix, which has attracted hundreds of people since 2010, will no longer be staged due to poor attendance last year.

A former organiser has hit out at the council for ‘badly advertising’ the event and not organising it ‘until the last minute’.

However the council has said the event had ‘lost the support’ of the public and now wants to organise a scooter event in its place.

John Pocock, who was on the organising committee until last year, said: “I am extremely disappointed this brilliant event will not be continuing.

“I think the organisation last year was left until the last minute. People were coming up to me asking when it was just weeks before it happened, so it’s hardly a surprise it’s come to this.

“There was a total lack of advertising.

“We always used to get in touch with people to get teams involved months in advance and that did not happen last year.

“You could not move a few years ago for the amount of people and it’s a shame it has come to this.”

Borough councillor Trevor Maxfield is in the process of forming a committee for a motorcycle and scooter event to replace it this year.

It will be similar to the Ribble Valley Mod Weekender which involves a major scooter rally.

It is hoped it will take place on the first May bank holiday weekend.

The attendance at the grand prix last year was branded as ‘very disappointing’ by the town council’s deputy leader Cllr Paul O’Garr.

Teams from as far away as Manchester have taken part in the two-hour race over the years but councillors have admitted it has now ‘run its course’.

Cllr Brian Taylor, leader of the council, said: “We have got to always think about value for money and based on the diminishing attendance and enthusiasm for this event it made us question whether it was worth us continuing to spend thousands on it.”

Cllr Pete Hollings, who was organiser last year, said: “I was left to organise it on my own and it is just something that has petered out.

“It was a unique event but people lost interest."