15,000 people but 100 toilets
It was the concert of the decade – but while 15,000 people filled New Plymouth’s TSB Bowl of Brooklands for Six60’s sold-out concert, there were fewer than 100 toilets available to them.
That works out at about 150 people per toilet, with some concert-goers waiting more than half an hour in line or – in desperate cases – using the bushes at Saturday’s show.
The situation was particularly difficult for women, many of whom even joined the queue to use the men’s toilets.
While the six-hour concert, which included Paige, Mitch James and Dave Dobbyn, has been hailed as one of the biggest and best the Bowl has ever hosted, the New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) has apologised for the toilet queues.
Queues for buying drinks moved significantly more quickly.
The waiting time to buy alcohol at the outlet located on the venue’s upper terrace was never more than a matter of minutes.
Council recreation and culture manager Teresa Turner said in a statement there were ‘‘about 100 toilets’’ at the venue – two of which were urinal blocks.
She said the issue had been made worse by a couple of toilets breaking during the event, tickets for which cost upward of $89.
‘‘We’re sorry that at times the queues for the toilets were too long,’’ Turner said.
When asked, the council did not say if they had thought about adding extra toilets to accommodate the 15,000 people.
The response said they would ‘‘take on board people’s feedback and will use it in our post-event analysis’’.
Turner said the council had received six complaints about the concert, two of which were about the lack of toilets, and also ‘‘some feedback via our social media channels’’ about the lack of loos.
According to the council’s Event Health and Safety Guidelines, for events attended by up to 5000 people where alcohol is available, there should be 12 toilets and 30 urinals for men and 40 toilets for women.
The guidelines do not give figures for events with audiences larger than 5000.
When asked what exactly the council planned to do in future to avoid a repeat of the lack of toilets seen at the Six60 show, Turner’s response was: ‘‘We listen to the feedback and plan how we could do better next time.’’