‘shambles’ festival
tive comments posted on the festival’s Facebook page had been deleted, except for those containing foul or aggressive language.
He said: “At the end of the day a lot of stuff on there has been exaggerated. It was never a threehour wait to come in.
“We have been monitoring queue times and 60 minutes was peak on Saturday and most were about 30 or 35 minutes.”
Mr Bendall apologised to visitors whose young ones missed out at the children’s arena but said the company hired to provide the costumed characters could not allow staff to walk on wet grass because of the risk of falling. Other attractions like bouncy castles also couldn’t be used in the rain. He said: “It is year one and that means tweaks have been made. “Our customers’ safety is paramount to us and so is their enjoyment of the day. “Sadly the water did catch us out and we had to put contingency plans in place to mitigate and ensure health and safety.” Some festivalgoers resorted to makeshift shelters as the weather turned on Saturday. Bottles of water were
‘At the end of the day a lot of stuff on there has been exaggerated. It was never a threehour wait to come in’
handed to queuing customers and staff worked to free drivers who had become stuck in increasingly muddy off-site parking.
However, there was some praise for organisers for improvements on its second day.
Louise Cheeseman said: “I have to say the organisers have acted on what went wrong yesterday.
“A warm welcome, barriers up meaning a quicker entry, more security on the gates, more staff on the inflatables, more seating.
“Well done Big Day Out for listening to customers.”