Traffic on Sunday Night

[jed300]

Very few holiday days at work mean I am going to have leave the festival Sunday straight after the headliners.

Is there any traffic at all then in regards to queueing to get out and on the rounds around the festival?

[pie_and_a_pint]

Straight after the headliners is a bad time to choose. You're likely to queue to get out of the car parks because lots of people have the same thought as you!

If you can bear to leave just before the headliners end (!) or leave it a couple of hours after they've finished, you'll have a much smoother journey out.

You could always take your stuff back to the car mid-afternoon on Sunday, then after the headliners relax, have a cuppa and a final wander, watch some stuff in the circus or something then leave unencumbered by stuff at 1am ish?

[shuttlep]

I left last year , most likely around 1 am

 

 

was home tucked up in bed by 8 am , but I live in Manchester so it's a trek and had a sleep on the way back for an hour, no traffic what so ever

[stixmcvix]

Did this in 2011. Straight after Beyonce, headed back to our tent, packed up and left. Took about 10 minutes to get out the car park, and then zero traffic all the way until London. I recommend it for having a less busy return trip, but it is absolutely exhausting driving through the night unless you've power-napped on the Sunday.

[Stretlow]

I also had to do this last year, the Mrs didn't drink Sunday and volunteered to drive after the headliners, got out fine. I fell asleep bladdered all the way back to Manchester.

Needless to say she's not volunteering this year

[Bernieray]

I've had to do this twice, I don't rush off after the headliner, prob take one more walk around the site before heading back to the car. No traffic getting out and home in Leicestershire at 3am ish. 

[k8yphillips]

We left last year just before the headliners and there was no ques and no traffic at all, we were home within half an hour.

[ancient_one]

It does seem to vary. I left straight after Stevie Wonder, whenever that was, and spent nearly three hours going 100 yards in the East car parks. The last couple of years I have left during the Sunday headliners. Once I was straight out - in fact I nearly got lost as there was nobody to follow and no stewards - but last year it was queueing again, for about 30 minutes.

[Tuttifrutti]

Hope this is similar enough without starting a new question. We're looking to leave Sunday night with our caravan, last year I noticed that rather than being herded like sheep, some caravans appeared to be immediately placed nearer the gate. I wondered if they had requested this because they knew they would be leaving early, probably a totally different reason but does anyone know if it's worth telling the stewards you are leaving Sunday night?

[BlueDaze]

I think that the caravans parked near the entrance in E25 may well be hired vans that have been dropped off...

that being said , I don't think it will hurt to ask the people on the gate on the way in... They are usually pretty reasonable and knowledgeable..

[phil the shrew]

Another point to remember is a one way system is in operation on the Sunday night, Monday morning and it can make getting back on your preferred route a bit tricky, so plan it in advance and it might impact on whether you head to east or west car parks when arriving

Straight after headliners is probably peak time after 1am it's quieter

[Tuttifrutti]

Thank you for the advice, I'll try and charm myself a spot near the gate