Bosses contrite as T in the Park fans stranded
Revellers stuck for 24 hours hit out at ‘utter shambles’
THE organisers of Scotland’s largest music festival have pledged to learn lessons after crowd congestion and calls by an MSP for a rethink over the running of T in the Park.
Some fans were still waiting to get home last night, almost 24 hours after the event finished following huge queues and tailbacks at drop-off and pick-up zones around the site.
These were caused by bottlenecks after about 85,000 people descended on each day of the threeday music festival, which had switched from Balado to Strathallan Castle venue, near Auchterarder, Perthshire.
Some vehicles became stuck in the mud and had to be towed.
Festival goer John Davidson, 17, described the scenes as “shambolic” after waiting for hours for transport to get through the gridlock surrounding the site.
He said: “I’ve been waiting from 8.30am to get a bus and no buses have ever turned up. There’s hundreds of people left waiting at the side of the road.
“We heard that a bus had broken down, but no-one could find out anything and there was no-one to ask what the problem was because all the stewards have left.
“This is just not a good place to hold a festival. The roads aren’t designed for this amount of cars and there’s no other way to get out. It’s really hard to find as well.”
Mr Davidson, from Glasgow, said that he had to seek help from St John’s ambulance staff because of the cold, and that there was no access to water during the long wait. He said: “It’s been an utter shambles.”
Liz Smith, MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife, said: “These are exactly the kind of issues which were flagged up months ago. T in the Park is an important event in Scotland’s festival calendar, but there has to be a major review of what has happened this year.”
It was reported that one fan was knocked down by a bus.
Organisers apologised to fans and festival director Geoff Ellis said earlier that a number of factors contributed to the delays.
More than 200 acts, including Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, performed to music fans.
Organisers hailed the first year at their new site at Strathallan as largely positive but said that there would be lessons surrounding the traffic in and out of the drop-off points.
Mr Ellis said: “Overall it’s been a great first year at Strathallan – the bands were brilliant, the site looked wonderful and we know that the majority of people have had a fantastic time.
“We also know traffic queues coming in and out of the drop-off points have left some people frustrated and we apologise for this because we obviously want the experience to be positive for everyone from start to finish. A combina- tion of things have contributed to the delays, including the weather, but traffic is moving today and we do also need people to be patient.
“Years of infrastructure and tried and tested plans at Balado means that our audience is used to a very quick exit from the site – which is not the norm for most other major events around the country. We’ll take lessons from this year.”
He added that concerns over disturbing neighbouring nesting ospreys seemed unfounded.”
Superintendent Colin Brown said: “There have been 54 arrests, similar to last year’s event, and while some of these have been for more serious offences, we have been helped by festival-goers providing information to our officers.”
Nick Moore of the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “We’ve had 700 people through the hospital tent this year which is a significantly lower number than in 2014.”