Sonisphere KNEBWORTH and Disabled People

[smileydogs]

Knebworth site for the Sonisphere event i am appalled at how poorly the disabled persons site has been run, how the viewing platform was disgusting unable to see the bands or see the video screens, one stage providing no access at all, how the stewards had been told to 'cram them in' as the area had been oversold and yes its a festival and in some areas you have to comprimise but to not be given what was promised, having paid the money like everyone else, to then be utterly disappointed and frustrated at every turn, with no one willing to listen to complaints or try to rectify issues once they had been raised, with a 'so what' attitude, it has been the most poorly run and disgracful disabled site i have ever seen in all my 40+ years, and i used to work within the industry so i do know! The tents were packed in so close together to provide an excellent fire hazzard, with guide ropes all over the place providing excellent opportunitites for blocking wheel chair access and providing a fantastic assault course for the blind and partially sighted campers,honestly the list goes on and on, 6 toilets with no urinals for appox 1200 people, with 3 of those being disabled, 2 of which had been broken since friday with no locking doors, nothing provided by means of anyone setting up spaces for camping, after asking for tent dimensions and car sizes expecting cars allowed next to tent as sold by Sonisphere to then be told on arrival you are not allowed to have your car next to your tent, told no gas on site your supposed to use a non existant communal BBQ area, people have had to leave drugs in cars, no fridges for medications, no battery charging for wheelchairs, disabled people left to struggle when their chair had lost power with Sonisphere staff stood watching the poor guy trying to wheel hisself with one arm , a disbaled person helped him! one girl left the site she was so shook up and disgusted after being turned away by ambulance crews after being crushed at Rammestein, she was turned away as there were no radios being told to walk back herself.

The whole thing has been a farce from start to finish, i have spoken to a lot of disgruntled people on the disabled camping site it seems almost like we are expected to forget about being treated this way, if they had kept to their end of the deal and not broken the terms and conditions of sale maybe it wouldnt have been so bad - i hope you all give your true honest account of how you experienced it, for me i wont be going again i am disgusted ! The organiser's should be ashamed of themselves for treating people so poorly, many have said they will not be going again and will look at reviews for next year to see if it has improved! There is a lot of upset disgruntled people !

[5co77ie]

Whilst I'm not disabled, and had a good weekend, I can quite imagine you had a problem. It seemed to me the two disabled platforms were miles away from either stage and I saw numerous wheelchair users deciding to join the crowd rather than view from so far away. I'm not sure about the cars not to tents thing I walked past camping which had parking beside it, although I do remember it looking a bit of a jumble of tents.

Did the welfare tent not have a fridge and the facility to charge wheelchairs?

[KAZRIC]

Hey there Smileydogs, that's really bad news 'coz I was impressed that there were so many disabled people at Sonisphere and I was thinking it was good to see how far festivals had come that people felt enabled to come and enjoy the event.

You must let the festival organisers know how you feel about this, 'coz they need to hear from disabled people about what they need to do to get this right. Sounds like you know your stuff so you've probably already heard of these guys too, maybe you should submit your report to them too: Attitude is Everything

[bekimo]

I am not a disabled person, and I have no idea what was going on in the campsite, though I am shocked to hear of your experience. It sounds truly awful.

I actually made comment to my friend about the disabled platforms and how far they were from the stages!

[she bangs the drums]

You should also air any comments on the feedback page of the Sonisphere website forum, they do actually listen, I got them to change the wristbands which last year had the word disabled on it in big letters and nothing else and changed it to access, plus I suggested the word Carer is outdated an Personal Assistant is much more suitable for 2010!

Here is the link

http://uk.sonispherefestivals.com/forum/social-networks/

[smileydogs]

Whilst I'm not disabled, and had a good weekend, I can quite imagine you had a problem. It seemed to me the two disabled platforms were miles away from either stage and I saw numerous wheelchair users deciding to join the crowd rather than view from so far away. I'm not sure about the cars not to tents thing I walked past camping which had parking beside it, although I do remember it looking a bit of a jumble of tents.

Did the welfare tent not have a fridge and the facility to charge wheelchairs?

[smileydogs]

You should also air any comments on the feedback page of the Sonisphere website forum, they do actually listen, I got them to change the wristbands which last year had the word disabled on it in big letters and nothing else and changed it to access, plus I suggested the word Carer is outdated an Personal Assistant is much more suitable for 2010!

Here is the link

http://uk.sonispherefestivals.com/forum/social-networks/

[smileydogs]

I am not a disabled person, and I have no idea what was going on in the campsite, though I am shocked to hear of your experience. It sounds truly awful.

I actually made comment to my friend about the disabled platforms and how far they were from the stages!

[smileydogs]

You should also air any comments on the feedback page of the Sonisphere website forum, they do actually listen, I got them to change the wristbands which last year had the word disabled on it in big letters and nothing else and changed it to access, plus I suggested the word Carer is outdated an Personal Assistant is much more suitable for 2010!

Here is the link

http://uk.sonispherefestivals.com/forum/social-networks/

[smileydogs]

Hey there Smileydogs, that's really bad news 'coz I was impressed that there were so many disabled people at Sonisphere and I was thinking it was good to see how far festivals had come that people felt enabled to come and enjoy the event.

You must let the festival organisers know how you feel about this, 'coz they need to hear from disabled people about what they need to do to get this right. Sounds like you know your stuff so you've probably already heard of these guys too, maybe you should submit your report to them too: Attitude is Everything

[smileydogs]

Well it looks like sonisphere dont want to hear the truth

i tried posting a few times yesterday and they never got put on seems like they dont want their failings to be public

they are happy to take the money but not address any of the issues

i am really fuming

a chap called zac had posted something about how they tried to rectify issues over the weekend - they never did, no one came to the access area to see what the problems were, the stock answer was 'well its a festival' and 'its my first one' said jenny - she left it to a carer to go and get the issues off the disbaled whilst she was 'having a great time' on the access platform with her telescopic camera able to take pictures and see the bands whilst less disabled were asked to make way for wheelchair users - this is not only a farce but they are not letting people leave true and accurate feedback on the site ! i saw the petition that went around the site and everyone who was spoken to time allowing signed the issues were numerous and if i can get a copy i will post it on here for everyone to see

the chap who started it has started a page on facebook 'Sonisphere 2010 Disabled Access Complaints' and is asking that anyone who didnt get chance to sign it contact him

[smileydogs]

August update!

i wanted to keep you updated

it seems after sending in the petition complaints to Jenny she was very gracious and said there was one on the list she had not been made aware of speaking with people

Attitude suggested it be sent to the MD as well. Apparantly the MD has responded saying it was libelous! it appears that it doesnt matter that this chap was trying to help those less able to tackle this task and for and on our behalf, but soni are trying to diecredit, frighten and slander this chap, they asked for the truth and they dont seem to like it that over 6 pages of people put their name to and added complaints to a petition on how poorly they believed they had been treated and how bad the site was and suggestions on how to make it better for others! as far as i am aware it is a free country they asked for feedback and now its slander! honest they are either very worried or simply due to profits not bothered

I know that the people who license the event, North Herts council have been copied in as well so if soni wont take notice then hopefully the council will

shame things cant be amicable it is not about causing any hassle but trying to make things better - so whose in the wrong!