What can/cant you bring on the coaches?

[LABoxers]

Was lucky enough to secure a Wednesday coach ticket last night for what will be my 3rd Glasto, but 1st time on the coaches. 

 

Is there a current link for coach items/etiquette/questions?

 

I'm also wondering what is possible to take with you and what is prohibited? Eg Can you have an alcoholic beverage or two to drink on the coach? (I don't plan to go crazy, but one of the road is always welcome!) 

 

My girlfriend is driving down on the Thursday, as she is NHS and cant get the Wednesday off sadly, but means she can take some of the less important bits like booze, chairs, blow up mattress etc. However a couple of friends have asked about taking tents down to pitch on their behalf so we are all together, as like my GF arent able to get Wednesday off work. If I was to say only have a small personal backpack with essentials and no crates of booze etc, would an extra 2-man tent or 2 with a fold up trolley be acceptable or frowned upon? 

 

I obviously don't want to take the piss and like I say this is my first time on the coaches, so would be good to get peoples insights. Many thanks. 

 

[EFC1996]

I’ve travelled 3 times with coaches now, the general rule of thumb is a tent and a bag to allow space for everybody else’s stuff. Definitely no trolleys, if it’s a small fold up one then I shouldn’t see too much of a problem but it all depends on the coach driver. And as far as booze goes that depends on the driver too but i always put some in my personal backpack to drink on the way down and it’s never been a problem. In fact in 2016 we were stuck in traffic for 7 hours and I got off the coach and bought a crate at sainsburys to drink on the coach and that was fine 

[Rufus Gwertigan]

I traveled on coach from Manchester last time and the coach left early doors at 1am ish. I enjoy a beer and I had a couple at the coach station but waited until we got to services before having another. It just seemed polite. As you get closer to the site people seem more relaxed and you could hear the psst of a can opening here and there. 

[clarkete]

On 3/25/2022 at 8:43 AM, LABoxers said:

My girlfriend is driving down on the Thursday, as she is NHS and cant get the Wednesday off sadly, but means she can take some of the less important bits like booze, chairs, blow up mattress etc. However a couple of friends have asked about taking tents down to pitch on their behalf so we are all together, as like my GF arent able to get Wednesday off work. If I was to say only have a small personal backpack with essentials and no crates of booze etc, would an extra 2-man tent or 2 with a fold up trolley be acceptable or frowned upon? 

 

You'll be taking your little bag plus two tents, some sleeping bag etc for your first night?

Definitely make sure you're OK to carry it if you're gonna be in the big slow queue and trudging across the site potentially some distance to get set up.  I've been told in the past that coaches would not permit trolleys, so better be prepared to carry what you have.

[Walter Sobchak]

1am?
 

shit do they really leave that early? Ours left at 10am from Manchester in 2017.  Stayed in hotel overnight as I’d traveled from Wales? Booked another hotel on the Wednesday this year.

 

 

[gfa]

6 hours ago, Rufus Gwertigan said:

I traveled on coach from Manchester last time and the coach left early doors at 1am ish. I enjoy a beer and I had a couple at the coach station but waited until we got to services before having another. It just seemed polite. As you get closer to the site people seem more relaxed and you could hear the psst of a can opening here and there. 

What is the coach like socially on the way there? Are people all chatting or mostly just sticking with their group - would love to get into the mood over a few tins and hear people's stories. I'm sure on the way back everybody is near dead.

[Rufus Gwertigan]

1 hour ago, gfa said:

What is the coach like socially on the way there? Are people all chatting or mostly just sticking with their group - would love to get into the mood over a few tins and hear people's stories. I'm sure on the way back everybody is near dead.

It was the first time I went by coach with national express and the getting there was at 1 a.m. m&i left at 2 a.m. on Monday morning. Everyone was tired at both points but I found the journey and the people around me to be exceedingly friendly. I I sat with my son going there yeah but on the way home I just sat next to a random bloke who insisted on snoring the entire when the way home. I have travelled lot on coaches and trains and this was by far the best journey have done. Enjoy.

[gooner1990]

12 hours ago, gfa said:

What is the coach like socially on the way there? Are people all chatting or mostly just sticking with their group - would love to get into the mood over a few tins and hear people's stories. I'm sure on the way back everybody is near dead.

I got the coach from Oxford in 2015...from memory it was quite a mixed bag of people.

We had to be there for 6am, to load all our luggage on ready for a 6.30am departure.

We got there 5.45am and were one of the last to arrive, everyone was stood waiting and chatting to other groups......Some like me who were just local to the area, some people we spoke to who had just used the coach to get a ticket and had no connection to the area (and had stayed in a hotel in Oxford the night before) , then an absolute ton of people who were studying in Oxford, including a massive crowd of Spanish students.  It did skew our coach to be on the younger side as a result, but it was fine.

Once on the coach, some people chatted, some slept, our coach left 30 mins late as one of the Spanish students left their tent at home and we had to wait for a friend of theirs to bring it to the departure point.

We left at 7am, was mostly just chit chat to start with, and then the guy right behind me who had a portable radio on and as we got on the M4 put some house music on, the coach driver told him to turn it off as he couldn't hear Radio 2 over the top a few of us had a laugh and said we'd rather listen to Radio 4 than house music. 😄

We were in the front row and me and my mate chatted to the driver a fair bit, he was a nice guy iirc.

The odd person was drinking (including my mate I travelled with), but I didn't really notice it..you could tell who the 1st timers were as soon as we saw the site in the distance they got very excited.

We had to stop at the M4 services at Melksham to hand the tickets out and whilst waiting most people just stuck to their own groups tbh. 

In contrast on the return journey it was complete and utter silence apart from 2-3 people who were awake for most of it, which was just as well as the driver tried to take a shortcut off the M4 back to Oxford and got stuck/lost and a couple of people had to help him find the right way again!

Edited March 30, 2022 by gooner1990

[blutarsky]

34 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

you could tell who the 1st timers were as soon as we saw the site in the distance they got very excited.

You sure that was first timers? I'd be more excited now I've been a few times than I was first time around!

[gooner1990]

54 minutes ago, blutarsky said:

You sure that was first timers? I'd be more excited now I've been a few times than I was first time around!

Well there were a lot of comments that you could tell came from people who hadn't been before...can't recall exact specifics as it was 7 years ago!

[clarkete]

19 hours ago, gfa said:

What is the coach like socially on the way there? Are people all chatting or mostly just sticking with their group - would love to get into the mood over a few tins and hear people's stories. I'm sure on the way back everybody is near dead.

Great mood on the seetickets coaches I've got from London (once) and Bristol (2 or 3 times).  Most of the punters quite a bit younger than us and last year with the lovely weather the excitement was building once it got into Somerset and ever nearer to the site.

[gooner1990]

I think in fairness our driver in 2015 was trying to get on everything he could as obviously no one wants stuff just left lying on the street.

Some people had brought extra beer, camping chairs etc and those were left till last so he could see if he could fit anymore on...he got a lot of it on but IIRC there were a few crates and some camping chairs left behind.  

No matter how many times people are told via email or whatever some people will always bring too much, me and my mate were lucky as another friend of ours was staying in CV East so he took our beer and camping chairs for us to ease the load on the way down, we just met him Weds afternoon to collect it.

He radioed in to his management to say it had been left and for someone from their company to go and pick it up once we were on our way.

[clarkete]

4 hours ago, gooner1990 said:

He radioed in to his management to say it had been left and for someone from their company to go and pick it up once we were on our way.

"tell dave there's 5 crates and some chairs up for grabs if he gets here sharpish" 

[gooner1990]

Just now, clarkete said:

"tell Dave there's 5 crates and some chairs up for grabs if he gets here sharpish" 

ha! The departure point is about 2 mins walk from my office so I'm sure I could tell someone and they would be round there sharpish! 😉