No problem with fatal monster truck permitting: Towns mayor

The municipality of Haaksbergen says that no mistakes were made when granting a permit for the infamous event with the monster truck last year. According to Mayor Hans Gerritsen, the safety instructions were adequate, which means that the permit will not have to be nullified, NOS reports. On September 28th last year a monster truck drove into the public during a stunt. The accident left three people dead and 28 injured. Last month the municipality's board of appeal stated that the mayor should never have granted a permit and that the permit should therefore be nullified. The municipality will not be following that advice. According to the mayor, the central question is whether the municipality would have issued the permit if they had known all the details of the stunt, and the answer is yes. He says that the safety measures were sufficient. "Our terms expressly states that a distance of ten meters to the public has to be maintained. Thus the safety at the intended execution of the stunt was sufficient. We must note that this was a serious accident. the permit could not have changed anything." Gerritsen fears that the municipality standing behind their decision to grant the permit may seem cold to the victims, but according to him it was the decision that does justice to the facts. He does however state that there are things that the municipality could have done better. "We should have asked more questions regarding the nature of the stunt."