ZooThousand Complaints

[emceerave]

I've worked out that over the course of the weekend, on the top 3 stages, there was an average of 37% of bands dropping out each day, including almost half the bands on Sunday!

Theoretically, as we paid for parking and camping seperately, Weekend ticket holders should be able to demand a minimum refund of 37% ?

I mean, out of 9 bands I was REALLY looking forward to, 7 dropped out. It's just not on really.

Thoughts?

[Michala_H]

You can probably see from my other posts that to say I am unimpressed is understatement of the year!!!!

The bands dropping out is just one out of MANY issues over the weekend.

I am more concerned over the MANY health and safety breaches and I'm kicking myself for not taking any photos... too late now.

I will be asking for a full refund. I doubt I will receive a penny from the company as apparently they are now bankrupt.

I think it's appalling that they have taken the zoo8 forum down. It is a cowardly act and only has added fuel to the fire.

[emceerave]

I think it's appalling that they have taken the zoo8 forum down. It is a cowardly act and only has added fuel to the fire.

[ccmyarse]

Was really looking forward to this and shambles is the best word to describe it. You could tell it was being run by a group of amateurs with hardly any knowledge of running festivals anywhere near that size.

To sum up what went wrong, without banging on about it too much....

-Security was pathetic

-Lack of toilets, that were hardly cleaned

-Queues were pretty hideous for a majority

-Didn't see anyone going around picking up rubbish the whole weekend

-Acts not turning up and none of the employees (except one) had a clue what was going on or where any of the tents were

-VIP could be renamed "Very Ordinary Person", as they had very little in the way of perks

I did speak to one stewardess, who was at the soundboard in front of the stage, and she said that the main promotor had been arrested and escorted off the site. Presume this was due to fraud, as they'd not paid any of the acts. This then left Port Lympne Zoo itself to organise the whole thing, which clearly isn't what they're used to doing, so I've got some sympathy for them in that respect.

One plus point for the place is that they've actually got a great area for it, in terms of the size of the arena area and camping, just some of the basic things that needed to be organised were non-existent. I personally hope someone manages to put it on again next year, with some experienced organisers that know what they're doing.

[eFestivals]

here at eFestivals we've been getting a lot of comments from people that were there, as well as info from various music biz people.

One reason for the "pathetic" security could be that many of them were protecting the promoter (until he was removed from the site) from irate managers; we've heard that this was happening.

It seems that most of the acts actually turned up, but that most had been told by their booking agents not to play unless they were paid. We've heard one report of one major-ish act that was so pissed off with it all by ther time that he got his fee that he took the money and ran - but we've not been able to verify this story (so the act won't be named).

VIP areas are always totally crap, and not worth the extra - this is why eFestivals *NEVER* includes info on VIP stuff.

While this festival had some potential, it seems that the main issue was down to the inexperience of the promoter. Due to the bad press it's now had, then I can't see anyone wanting to take it on for next year.

The one thing eFestivals hasn't had good info on was the number of people there - does anyone want to take a guess??

[funkymp]

ive heard there was 6,000 people out of the 20,000

as for the act running off - someones posted the same thing on drownedinsound about that (someones even mentioned who it supposedly was), bloody terrible if its true.

Edited July 7, 2008 by funkymp

[Joshuwarr]

here at eFestivals we've been getting a lot of comments from people that were there, as well as info from various music biz people.

One reason for the "pathetic" security could be that many of them were protecting the promoter (until he was removed from the site) from irate managers; we've heard that this was happening.

It seems that most of the acts actually turned up, but that most had been told by their booking agents not to play unless they were paid. We've heard one report of one major-ish act that was so pissed off with it all by ther time that he got his fee that he took the money and ran - but we've not been able to verify this story (so the act won't be named).

VIP areas are always totally crap, and not worth the extra - this is why eFestivals *NEVER* includes info on VIP stuff.

While this festival had some potential, it seems that the main issue was down to the inexperience of the promoter. Due to the bad press it's now had, then I can't see anyone wanting to take it on for next year.

The one thing eFestivals hasn't had good info on was the number of people there - does anyone want to take a guess??

[loosechange]

ive heard there was 6,000 people out of the 20,000

[funkymp]

Incidentally, the story in Drowned In Sound about the act running off with his fee is bollocks - he didn't even get his deposit, let alone his fee.

Edited July 7, 2008 by funkymp

[Marf]

hey all I have a pal who works in the council here and he found out this stuff for people who want to complain:

"Just checked with our events management people (Canterbury), who said that any official complaint to the licensing authority (Shepway) will go on record and will seriously curtail the chances of the same promoter putting on another show in that area.

Probably for the best in this case, given the number of complaints they're likely to get!

Further tip - when complaining, you should refer to the four key aims of the Licensing Act 2003:

*The prevention of crime and disorder

*Public safety

*The prevention of public nuisance

*The protection of children from harm"

[Michala_H]

hey all I have a pal who works in the council here and he found out this stuff for people who want to complain:

"Just checked with our events management people (Canterbury), who said that any official complaint to the licensing authority (Shepway) will go on record and will seriously curtail the chances of the same promoter putting on another show in that area.

Probably for the best in this case, given the number of complaints they're likely to get!

Further tip - when complaining, you should refer to the four key aims of the Licensing Act 2003:

*The prevention of crime and disorder

*Public safety

*The prevention of public nuisance

*The protection of children from harm"

[Marf]

Thanks that's really helpful.

I think all four aims were well and truly disreguarded for pretty much the whole weekend.

Anyone else think that maybe watchdog might be able to help??

[yoyo]

Ok i just registered to say this was the most appallingly organised festival on this scale i have ever been to.

If anyone was there on sunday night post-hives. There was a ruckus of 400 people on the campsite. They had and tiny amount of people trying to hold them back, and instead of calming them down, what did they do? They went after the people not involved at the back of the ruckus and confiscated their alcohol. It was appalling, if you are not willing to do your job properly get a different job.

Afterwards there was a fire, but no fire extinguishers because the people working there had 'lost' them! And if there really was oonly 8000 people on the weekend camping site, i dread to think what it would have been like with twice that amount.

Lets see what they did wrong:

• No fresh water, only chlorinated, and sparse amounts of that.

• No prevention of crime (okay all festivals have this, but never have i seen fights and rowdy crouds get as bad as this)

• No rubbish collectors/bin bags/rubbish dumping facilities, the campsite was insane on monday morning

• 3-5 hour queues to get in

• No benefits for VIPs (okay i suppose you'd have to be a sucker to get vip anyway, but still)

• Hour long 'soundchecks' after each band

• Stretched sets (the cribs were made to play twice as long due to other bands cancelling)

And this morning the manager for the bbc one stage said they also closed down the Tap n' Tin because there weren't enough acts and blamed it on an unstable tent. Can't verify this because I didn't actually visit that tent on the last day.

There's a stench of irony aswell with how 'green' this festival was supposed to be, murky brown would have been a more fitting image. All that talk of recycling areas really was complete bollocks.

I'll leave on a positive note, the bands that did play were amazing and I give them so much respect for bothering to play at all. Thank god that when everything else goes wrong we can still count on the raw music.

Edited July 7, 2008 by yoyo

[Stashbox]

The one thing eFestivals hasn't had good info on was the number of people there - does anyone want to take a guess??

[loosechange]

''Bob O'Connor, Howletts and Port Lympne managing director, said: "In spite of the hiccups we experienced, the inaugural Zoo8 festival was a fantastic event and a great success with over 12,000 revellers enjoying 120 acts on eight stages, across three days.''

[eFestivals]

the event's press officer has issued the following .... it seems more than a little different to the comments I've read here and elsewhere.....

Press Release

7th July 2008

Inaugural

Zoothousand

& Eight

Festival Round-Up

"This crowd is the loudest for a long time… I’m only going to play

zoos from now on - tell my tour manager".

Mark Ronson - Fri 4th July 08

150 performances, 12,000 people each day, 8 stages, 3 days of revelry, a

few hiccups but overall a new festival declared a ‘qualified’ success…

The organisers of Zoothousand Festival today stated that the festival was a 'qualified' success, whilst also issuing an

official apology to any ticket holders who were inconvenienced as they 'learnt some painful lessons' during their

inaugural event.

A weekend of contrasts saw Zoothousand provide a glimpse into some of the best and worst features of any large

UK festival.

Across the first two days, the sun-soaked revellers enjoyed some extraordinary sets in the beautiful rolling Kent

countryside. Mark Ronson, The Cribs, Lethal Bizzle, Gallows, Ash, Hadouken, The Teenagers, Kid Harpoon and The

Young Knives all gave the crowds seminal performances across the two main stages. The drum & bass arena was

packed and were kept partying all weekend by DJs such as Pendulum, Andy C, Freemasons, Bodyrox, Seb

Fontaine and many many more.

Zoothousand Co-Director Ricardo Monty comments “The sun shone for most of the weekend, people danced and

all of the stages were buzzing. The atmosphere was fantastic at all times throughout the main arena with the crowd

praised by the emergency services for their largely exemplary behaviour.”

The Holloways Zoothousand Revellers Lethal Bizzle

More/…

Problems

However, the inaugural festival - the first event on this scale on the site – also experienced some serious teething

problems; including queues upon arrival, complaints over campsite overcrowding, lack of drinkable water, line-up

and scheduling changes, and some significant dissent from artists regarding payment.

"Our biggest problem was one of miscalculation over cash-flow” accepts Danny Blanche, Zoothousand Festival Co-

Director. “This required us to make pragmatic decision to cancel a few acts. Thankfully, with some vital assistance

from Port Lympne Wildlife Park, we managed to keep the show on the road, with the vast majority of the popular acts

appearing.

“We also had to temporarily shut the Big Top tent on Saturday & entirely because of Health & Safety due to problems

with one of the poles supporting the structure. The obvious knock-on effect of this was that we had to move the acts

into other performance spaces, which did cause some confusion, but there was no choice – safety always has to

come first”.

Danny continues, “We have had feedback that people were unhappy with the length of time they were waiting to get

into the event, and the toilets on the campsite. People turned up much earlier than predicted on Friday causing

delays, and the campsites became busier than expected which caused some infrastructure problems. These are all

areas that we dealt with as best we could as they arose.

“Obviously, none of this was ideal or planned – and not the quality of experience that we had aimed to deliver – and

for that we unreservedly apologise to all those affected by the situation. We want to stress that this was our first

festival and that we have dealt with all problems directly and will continue to do so in preparation for next year”

explains Danny.

“We came into this event with good faith and over the next few days will be dealing with any complaints posted on

the forum or sent to the office, and will respond to each on a case by case basis”, explains Matt Dice, Co-Director of

Zoothousand, who continues...

"The three Directors of Wildlife Events would like to officially thank the senior management team at Port Lympne

Wildlife Park; the police; St John’s ambulance; security, and health & safety for helping with the event. As well as all

the production and back-stage staff that pulled together to make Z008 happen.

“Three other festivals went under this very weekend- we’re operating in seriously tough market conditions but we’ll

rectify everything from this year and definitely be back for Z009”.

Danny Blanche, Ricardo Monty, Matt Dice

Co-Directors, Wildlife Events / Zoothousand & Eight

[loosechange]

the event's press officer has issued the following .... it seems more than a little different to the comments I've read here and elsewhere.....

[loosechange]

Stumbled across this the other day, whilst looking for something else:

Company Report For WILD LIFE MUSIC EVENTS LIMITED

Report Summary

Company Name WILD LIFE MUSIC EVENTS LIMITED

Registered Office LOUISE COTTAGE NORWOOD LANE, NEWCHURCH, ROMNEY MARSH, KENT TN29 0DU

Net Worth

Credit Limit -£1.00

Credit Rating -24 Winding Up Petition(s)

Company Details

Number 06080982

Name WILD LIFE MUSIC EVENTS LIMITED

Address LOUISE COTTAGE NORWOOD LANE, NEWCHURCH, ROMNEY MARSH, KENT TN29 0DU

Telephone

TPS Registered N

Company Type Private limited with Share Capital

Primary SIC 7487

Secondary SIC(s)

Standard Industry Code(s)

7487 - OTHER BUSINESS ACTIVITIES

Credit Rating

Date Rating Description

01/12/2008 -24 Winding Up Petition(s)

17/10/2008 3 Caution - Credit at your discretion

07/10/2008 6 Caution - Credit at your discretion

Credit Limit

Date Limit

01/12/2008 -£1

17/10/2008 £0

07/10/2008 £0

Industries

Trading Addresses

Address: 7 Pelham Gardens

Folkestone

CT20 2LF

Telephone:

TPS Registered: N

Previous Names

Date Name

CCJ Summary

Date From Date To Number Amount

06/01/2006 06/01/2009 6 £25,271.00

CCJ Detail

Case Number Date Court Amount Status Paid Date

8CH02641 20/08/2008 CHESTER £11,591.00 JG

8XJ29584 01/10/2008 NORTHAMPTON CCBC £934.00 JG

8QH96532 03/10/2008 NORTHAMPTON CCBC £234.00 JG

8AS01040 14/10/2008 ASHFORD £4,831.00 JG

8XK96729 29/10/2008 NORTHAMPTON CCBC £6,064.00 JG

8QZ18017 01/12/2008 NORTHAMPTON CCBC £1,617.00 JG

Status History

Date Status

01/12/2008 Petitions Winding-Up (Gazette)

Event History

Date Status

22/12/2008 New Board Member Mr D.P. Blanche appointed

22/10/2008 Change in Reg.Office

22/10/2008 Change of Company Postcode

17/10/2008 Ms S. Hart has left the board

17/10/2008 Mr P.T. Blanche has left the board

17/10/2008 Ms S. Blanche has resigned as company secretary

14/10/2008 Annual Returns

06/10/2008 New Board Member Ms S. Hart appointed

01/10/2008 Change in Reg.Office

01/10/2008 Change of Company Postcode

30/09/2008 New Board Member Mr P.T. Blanche appointed

29/09/2008 Mr M.S. Dice has left the board

29/09/2008 Mr W.S. Hardman has resigned as company secretary

29/09/2008 Mr R. Monty has left the board

28/09/2008 Mr T.S. Cowell has left the board

28/09/2008 New Board Member Mr D.P. Blanche appointed

11/04/2008 Change in Reg.Office

03/03/2008 New Board Member Mr T.S. Cowell appointed

03/01/2008 New Board Member Mr M. Ricardo appointed

28/11/2007 Change in Reg.Office

28/11/2007 Change of Company Postcode

30/10/2007 CHAD JENNER has left the board

30/10/2007 WILLIAM HARDMAN has left the board

30/10/2007 DANIEL BLANCHE has left the board

16/04/2007 New Board Member (CHAD JENNER) appointed

29/03/2007 Change in Reg.Office

29/03/2007 Change of Company Postcode

15/03/2007 TEMPLE SECRETARIES LIMITED has resigned as company secretary

15/03/2007 COMPANY DIRECTORS LIMITED has left the board

15/03/2007 New Board Member (DANIEL BLANCHE) appointed

07/02/2007 New Company Secretary (TEMPLE SECRETARIES LIMITED) appointed

07/02/2007 New Board Member (COMPANY DIRECTORS LIMITED) appointed

06/02/2007 Change of Name

06/02/2007 Change in Reg.Office

06/02/2007 Change of Company Postcode

Shareholders

Name Shares

PETER BLANCHE 1 ORDINARY GBP 1.00

Shareholder Summary

Share Capital: 1

Directors

Director

Title Mr

Name: Daniel Peter Blanche

Address 113 Somerset Road

Folkestone

Kent

CT20 1EG

Date of Birth 11/07/1975

Nationality U.KINGDOM

Honours

Directorships

Company Number 03494751

Company Name DOCKLANDS DANCE PROPMOTIONS LIMITED

Company Status Active

Function Director

Appointed Date 19/01/1998

Company Number 04849917

Company Name ZOO THOUSAND LTD

Company Status Dormant Company

Function Director

Appointed Date 29/07/2006

Company Number 06080982

Company Name WILD LIFE MUSIC EVENTS LIMITED

Company Status Active

Function Director

Appointed Date 28/08/2008

[Medina]

Excellent post.

Fascinating reading.

Really needs no other comment as the company information says it all.