HERE’S a question to drivers: when you want to get to a particular place, what’s your choice from the following two options: (a) get to a station, take a train, then at the other end, wait for a shuttle bus with a load of other people, or (b) get in your car, drive there, park, get out.

This isn’t a scientific poll, but I’m guessing a majority would go for option (b).

Most of us like our own space and, given the option, we don’t use shuttle buses. It’s not a very environmentally-friendly attitude, which is why the Olympic Games in London this summer has removed choice and put the focus on public transport.

You can’t park anywhere near the main Olympic venues, so you have no choice but to take a tube, a train or a bus.

Give us a choice, though, and we take the car keys. Which is why I was so amazed by the serious-minded comments of Warner Bros in the last Watford Observer.

Responding to fears of residents in Leavesden, who think they’re about to be overrun by traffic pouring into the Harry Potter Tour, we got a very confident response from the company’s spokesman Rachel Parsons (and no, she’s not a relation).

“We are encouraging visitors to use trains when they visit the Harry Potter tour,” she said. “We will also be supplying a bus service, which will run every 15 minutes, to and from the stations to the studios.

“Because we are advising people not to travel by car, we don’t envisage an extra surge in traffic in the area.”

So let’s be clear about this: Warner Bros says it is actively trying to dissuade visitors from driving to the attraction and the company doesn’t expect a significant increase in traffic. Hmmm.

It seems curious, not least because I notice that the road to Leavesden is now dotted with those brown signs to show drivers the best way to get to an attraction.

Odd thing to do if you’re trying to dissuade drivers, isn’t it?

But what about the website that showcases the tour – surely that will bang on about shuttle buses and trains?

Well no, not really. Click on the page marked “Arrival Information”, and there’s a link about the free parking, but no mention of buses. The “Getting Here” section does talk about public transport, but also gives lengthy driving directions, so it is, at best, a score draw.

So is anyone at Warner Bros actually “encouraging visitors to use trains”?

Certainly they’re providing shuttle buses from Watford Junction, but then again did they have any choice?

If there were no buses, then it really would be an attraction solely for drivers – and that wouldn’t seem a smart commercial decision.

But in terms of actually offering encouragement or incentive – cheaper tickets if you come by public transport, for instance – I can’t see anything.

Let’s be clear here – I’m not criticising Warner Bros for coming up with a visitor attraction that requires a car. Plenty of the best ones do. I took my boys to Whipsnade a few days ago and there’s no way you could get there on public transport. You’d do better borrowing one of their elephants.

Indeed, I had always thought one of the main reasons for building a big attraction like this was that it was easy to reach, thanks to the M1 and the M25. And if you’re not expecting a lot of cars, why build a big car park in the first place?

It’s surely simply daft to suggest that most people are going to come to the Harry Potter Tour, wonderful as it will no doubt be, all schlepping their way to Watford Junction and then waiting quarter of an hour for a shuttle bus. Some will but plenty won’t.

The tour developers believe a quarter of people will use public transport – my guess would be a lot lower than that.

But, you might argue, so what? There aren’t many voices saying this studio tour is a bad thing for the area. It has created jobs, investment, and kudos. It’s brought a bit of stardust and will carry on doing so. It’s a good thing.

But what I’m questioning is the knee-jerk reaction against the residents of Leavesden, who surely have a legitimate concern.

Why claim, in what sounds a high-handed way, that there’s nothing to worry about, when perhaps there is?

Why not say traffic levels will be monitored and that problems will be addressed if they occur? I would have thought that’s all the people of Leavesden want to hear – that their fears are being taken seriously.

It’s not just about now. It’s about the future. If this tour is a success – and there’s every indication that it will be – Warner Bros might decide to expand the number of people going on it, or the opening hours, or the number of attractions.

Isn’t it worth offering a little reassurance that, regardless of international profile, the local community gets a say as well?

I’ll be going on the tour – we bought our tickets a while ago and the whole family is looking forward to it.

But I’m afraid it’s going to take an awful lot to persuade me to leave the car at home.

Finally, I've only just discovered that parts of Star Wars Episode 1 were filmed in Watford – in Whippendell Woods to be precise. How I’ve gone through life without knowing this is now a source of considerable concern for me, but if you’ve got any other titbits of such spectacular cultural links to our area, please do let me know. I’ll put them together in a couple of weeks time.

And yes, Jeremy, I do know that George Michael went to your school...

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Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here