Have i heard right or is it just a rumour? the west car park at the NEC will not be open for L.K.A. as it,s been sold and we have to use the east car park??

Don't know if it has been sold but definitely not being used for LKA, we have to use South Car Park for Hall 2 exhibitors, and they still charge £10 for the extra walk, think West Car Park is still being used for Crufts though. I think it is very greedy to charge this much to park, all they will do is put people off for next year.

I read that part of it had been sold and LKA decided against using the remainder

I've heard it was sold to the airport? That it can be rented back which will happen at Crufts but LKA decided not to, thanks a bunch, a long haul for a lot of us!!

cant say ive used the south car park hope i find it

oh as if its not diffcult enough to park already tut!

so is it further to walk to the south car park? i,m in hall 2 and have 3 dogs a trolley and a  table and grooming bag my suit AND the kitchen sink!!! and i'm in minor puppy dog at 9
Wish i,d know about this earlier as would have had 2nd thoughts on going!

Shuttle buses run from east and south car parks

I always get East and West mixed up -is it the West where you walk through the subway? I've never liked that one and avoid it, much prefer the car parks where you take the shuttle bus so can't see a problem at all really. :) Bit of a pain to wait with Joe Public at Crufts but not as bad for LKA but I'd never want to walk with all the stuff. I see LKA as dress rehearsal for Crufts for youngsters, getting them onto the shuttle bus for the first time.

Yes the West is through the subway

http://www.thenec.co.uk/travel/Documents/nec-site-map.pdf

for those not sure of what is where.

Yes, it has been sold

Now I never take the bus, but the walk is useful to iron the kinks out of the dogs and allow them to releive themselves, and they are pretty good at having bins along the route, so no excuse not to pick up.

There always seem to be an awful lot of dogs relieving themselves on those paths that are very loose!

Car travel, excitement, and perhaps having to hold on longer than comfortable can result in loose poo.

A lot of the dogs body clocks will have been disrupted by being woken early shoved in the car, perhaps without having had a chance to go before.

I know on show days mien get very excited and it is almost impossible to get them to 'go' and also keep them quiet so they don't wake the whole street!!!

I have only been to Crufts once as a helper, I was horrified how far we had to walk,2 crates,3 dachsies,chair and a load of other stuff on a very heavy trolley,none of it mine,then once inside had to back track to the end of the building we had walked past outside sometime before, going home we were both nearly in a state of collapse as we were so tired we had been on the go for over 12 hrs by the time we were heading back to the cars, my friend said she was going to get the coach in future with members of the ringcraft class and be dropped at the door, my worry would be is there room for everyones stuff on the coach[or the shuttle bus for that matter].

One of her girls got a first in a very large class so it was well worth it and is now a Champ with multiple CC/RCC's, great to see one of the lesser known competitors winning.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL GOING TO LKA will be thinking of you.

wish they would put the coaches back on it would be so much easier but nobody seems to do it now

Well I trialled the new 'No West Carpark'.........

Nightmare, miles and miles away from South where they put you.Downhill on the way there but a continual and increasing slope on the way back.

Back, feet and shoulders aching. At least it didnt rain, if it had I think many would have sat down on the path and cried :-(

Surely it's no different to Crufts?

If you are in halls 4 or 5 the East car park is no different a walk than the west. I got the bus today with 2 pups as I was running late. There definitely seemed less people and lots of buses.

I went yesterday and parked in East car park. I didn't have a dog so got the bus (I usually like to walk my dogs in anyway) and there were a few people with dogs on the bus and it took us round the back to the dog entrances, much better than being dropped at the front. I hope they do that for Crufts too.

The shuttle bus was an absolute nightmare to bring dogs on but the car parks were so far away and we had to bring enough with us that we didn't really have a choice. Picked a seat where my bitch could sit on the floor in front of me, out of the way and not bothering anyone. Someone decided to sit across from us with their dog, which spent the entire shuttle ride attempting to sniff and lick her. She handled it well, but was certainly stressed out by the experience. If they don't have the west car park open for Crufts, I'm going to be really upset. That shuttle is not designed to bring dogs on, much less the massive trollies that people were trying to put on it. At the very least they could have the decency to reserve one of the dog entrances for unloading so that we can get the dogs and belongings in the building before parking the car.

i agree absolute nightmare fair enough the chaps helped us on the bus. Which in itself was horrendous as i said 3 dogs 3 cages bags , suit , etc
When it came to hometime queuing   for buses so walked was absolutely done in by the time i got to car
And as i am no spring chicken took me a day to get over it
Dont know what i am doing for crufts as last day  so bound to be 100 times WORSE