AN ANNUAL fundraising motorbike event has been cancelled after a district council's concerns over safety concerns – including terror attacks and unauthorised drones.

The Squires Egg Run has been running for the last 11 years, starting from Squires Cafe in Sherburn-in-Elmet, between York and Leeds, to different locations over the years, in aid of Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

This year the event was due to be completed in Easingwold, between Thirsk and York, on Sunday, April 14, with organisers working with Easingwold Town Council since October.

But last week organisers Jan Davies and Chris Eden were told by Hambleton District Council's safety advisory group that they had to do more in their traffic management plans to protect the public, and plan for emergency situations.

But Ms Davies said they had been put in an impossible position when they had to prepare for terrorist attacks and unauthorised drones.

She said: "We run four events a year: the Egg Run, the Ride of Honour for Help for Heroes; The Ride of Remembrance, and the Toy Run.

"The events are always very well organised and North Yorkshire Police have been happy with the safety measures we put in place.

"We normally get around 1,000 motorcyclists to the Egg Run but we've never had any issues before. Despite us being in talks with the council since October, in the last week we had been given so many boxes to tick that is just got too much, so we cancelled."

The event is still going ahead, with a new circular route starting and finishing at Squires, registration opening at 8.30am and departing at 11am. Entry is £5 or an Easter egg – the cash being donated to YAA and the eggs to a children's charity.

Ms Davies said she did have concerns that some riders would still go to Easingwold but hoped they would return to Squires.

A statement from the council said: "Through the multi-agency Safety Advisory Group (SAG) we issued advice to the event organisers. The SAG exists to help people with their event planning.

"SAG are made up of representatives from a number of organisations, including police, fire and ambulance services, highways authority, resilience and emergency planning, environmental health and licensing.

"The organisers of this egg run were told SAG had significant concerns about the safety of the event specifically related to traffic management, the numbers of bikes coming to Easingwold and the impact on other members of the public, in particular other road users and members of the public, medical cover and planning for any 'emergency' situation.

"All event organisers are also made aware of the risk from terrorism and are duty bound to prepare – but there has been no suggestion that there were any threats against Easingwold. SAG also offered to work with the organisers to ensure the safety of the event.