Parking!

[Wilfred71]

I went to this festival this weekend, purely because the Trowbridge Pump Festival was cancelled this year & was thoroughly appalled at not being able to park your car by your tent!

I've never seen such a shambles in my life & I've been camping for over 30 years.

How ridiculous to expect people to carry all their camping equipment such a long way over uneven ground, with tents everywhere making it impossible to get through! There were no access ways for emergency vehicles that I could see & the whole experience was a complete let-down. The very least I expected was to be able to drop my camping equiment off where I was going to camp & then move my car to the car park but no!

I've been camping at Le Mans every year for over 10 years where there are hundreds of thousands of people & if the organisers there can arrange roads/access ways, parking spaces by tents, I really don't see how the organisers of, what is a tiny event by comparison, can't do the same. It ruined the weekend for me & my friends, all of which said they wouldn't be going to this festival again.

The lack of showers was also a disappointment for people.

The tickets for the weekend were more expensive than the price we paid for the Trowbridge Pump festival last year but the facilites were dire & the music not as good!

Sorry but my group of friends will not be wasting their money at this festival anymore.

[Rich BT]

At the majority of UK festivals you cannot park by your tent due to the local authorities health and safety conditions.

There are only a handful of festivals that allowed to do this and you must have been lucky enough to have attended one of these. Drink and vehicles do not mix and I have seen for myself a car drive over someone’s tent and thank god someone was not in it.

Le Mans is pretty irrelevent as they do not have the same health and safety laws in the UK - which essentially gives powers to individual local authorities to define what is a risk.

Tickets for Trowbridge last year was £115?

[blackcapsteve]

I guess I have been spared that nightmare by always buying a "live in vehicle pass" which DOES allow the car next to the tent. This year the car park was closer to the campsite, but I agree, carrying all that gear is difficult. I would say, if you have a bell tent, its almost impossible. There were access roads. I know this because each morning the bin emptying truck went all around and back. At Larmer tree you have to carry your camping equipment too, but its an easier job. I guess that knowing what to expect, makes things a whole lot easier. No showers? Once again if its a surprise when you arrive, its a shock.

[guypjfreak]

you want glasto old son

[Wilfred71]

A "Live in" pass sounds like it could be the one for me - more money I guess?

[blackcapsteve]

True - more money. But that is the way it should be. The people who dont mind roughing it a bit can get in cheap, therefore you get a much better cross section of people. Take your choice. Glasto? If someone gave me a ticket I would give it away. I see no attraction in sharing a space with 150,000 people.

My friend goes to a lot of festivals all around the country as a therapist, this year was her first time here, and she commented on the lovely vibe. At some other festivals she has felt very unsafe. I have been for three years now and every year there are improvements made, largely I guess, based on feedback. You have at least taken the trouble to complain.

[guypjfreak]

True - more money. But that is the way it should be. The people who dont mind roughing it a bit can get in cheap, therefore you get a much better cross section of people. Take your choice. Glasto? If someone gave me a ticket I would give it away. I see no attraction in sharing a space with 150,000 people.

My friend goes to a lot of festivals all around the country as a therapist, this year was her first time here, and she commented on the lovely vibe. At some other festivals she has felt very unsafe. I have been for three years now and every year there are improvements made, largely I guess, based on feedback. You have at least taken the trouble to complain.

[Flounder]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll bullet point the answers for ease

- There are access roads all through the site - this is part of H&S and the festival wouldn't be allowed to go ahead without them.

- There were walk ways through the camping area, but I do understand your point and maybe having smaller paths to enable people to other bits of camping would make things easier

- Endorse it isn't the type of festival that has designated camping pitches- in fact most festivals aren't ( including the Village Pump), therefore the camping can look disorganised, but its mainly through people wanting to camp together

- The walk really isnt that far and as Rich stated, the majority of festivals won't allow you to drive onto the campsite. In fact if you arrived later ( after 5pm Friday) at the Pump and people were camped up, you shouldn't have been allowed to park up to drop your stuff off, as these were the fire access lanes. I do understand that the field was slightly rutted, but the festival is on a working farm and these were the flattened farrows after the crop was cut.

- we never usually supply showers, although I do appreciate the need.

Thanks once again for the feedback - it is how events can improve and its via forums like this that enable the process to be more personal, rather than a faceless machine

[guypjfreak]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll bullet point the answers for ease

- There are access roads all through the site - this is part of H&S and the festival wouldn't be allowed to go ahead without them.

- There were walk ways through the camping area, but I do understand your point and maybe having smaller paths to enable people to other bits of camping would make things easier

- Endorse it isn't the type of festival that has designated camping pitches- in fact most festivals aren't ( including the Village Pump), therefore the camping can look disorganised, but its mainly through people wanting to camp together

- The walk really isnt that far and as Rich stated, the majority of festivals won't allow you to drive onto the campsite. In fact if you arrived later ( after 5pm Friday) at the Pump and people were camped up, you shouldn't have been allowed to park up to drop your stuff off, as these were the fire access lanes. I do understand that the field was slightly rutted, but the festival is on a working farm and these were the flattened farrows after the crop was cut.

- we never usually supply showers, although I do appreciate the need.

Thanks once again for the feedback - it is how events can improve and its via forums like this that enable the process to be more personal, rather than a faceless machine