I am absolutely mortified that the Southampton boat shows were cancelled at the very last minute. These events, in the current circumstances, should never have received licences to proceed from the city council in the first place. What ever were they thinking?

Events across the country have been knocked on the head for the foreseeable future, so questions should be asked of the council as to their thoughts behind their initial decision to let the event go ahead, knowing the likelihood of national pandemic changes !

I really feel for the exhibitors who have made every effort to be compliant thinking all was proceeding well, and have been badly let down by our council with their extremely late decision to pull the shows, not to mention the vast losses that have been incurred.

The damage to our cities reputation has been severely marred!

Richard A Jacob

Southampton