Monday Exit Queues

[agwah]

I am booked into Ashcombe Farm parking so all good for leaving Monday morning. Some friends however did not follow my advice in time and did not manage to get in.

 

Is there any way to beat the car park exit queues on Monday, maybe moving the car closer to the exit on Sunday?

 

Cheers

[Neil]

28 minutes ago, agwah said:

Is there any way to beat the car park exit queues on Monday

in your car to drive out by 6.30am.you might have a bit of slow shuffling, but you prolly won't be joining a huge not moving queue

[Kaboom Boxer]

17 minutes ago, Neil said:

in your car to drive out by 6.30am.you might have a bit of slow shuffling, but you prolly won't be joining a huge not moving queue

What time would you have to wait until to get on the extreme other end of that?

[Neil]

Just now, Kaboom Boxer said:

What time would you have to wait until to get on the extreme other end of that?

the worst time to join the queue is probably around 9-10 o'clock.

(i'm guessing its years  since i've not gone early.)

[Ben7amin_]

My friend left at 8:30 ish last year and might have been stuck for 4 hours though he said they were just not being let out of his bit of the car parks for some unknown reason. 

 

We left against my wishes at 11 ish and had abou 2 and a half hours in carpark.

 

One year I left at 4.30 pm and cruised straight out 

[gooner1990]

I was booked on a coach return last year, however some friends offered me a lift back instead....just looked at the 2023 map and I'm 99.9% sure they were parked in Pink 48.

 

Got to the car around 7.30am and drove out without any queuing whatsoever.  

[Nuthugger]

i have a sober sunday and leave at about 5-5.30am on the monday. no cues. nada. also they used to enforce a different 1way system after a certain time in the mon morning. does that still happen?? we also used to try to get out before that.

 

the only issue I had was last year in the purple car park. the usual exit off the hill was blocked by boulders and a different exit was being used. but there was no signage or marshals telling you where to go. so had to drive around aimlessly till i found it which sucked.

[Leyrulion]

If you're moving anytime before about 8am you should be fine. After that you might as well stay in the tent until 4. 

[Nuthugger]

4 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

If you're moving anytime before about 8am you should be fine. After that you might as well stay in the tent until 4. 

[Long Drop]

10 hours ago, agwah said:

I am booked into Ashcombe Farm parking so all good for leaving Monday morning. Some friends however did not follow my advice in time and did not manage to get in.

 

Is there any way to beat the car park exit queues on Monday, maybe moving the car closer to the exit on Sunday?

 

Cheers

I have an Ashcombe Farm parking and camping space that I no longer need, you're welcome to take it off my hands and maybe they'll allow you to change it to parking only.

If Ashcombe are willing to move my booking to your friend, dm me for the email address I used for booking.

Edited April 30 by Long Drop

[Gnomicide]

It may depend where you've been parked. I've been back in the car at 8:30/09:00 every year I've driven and never had any issue getting out.

 

 

Edited April 30 by Gnomicide

[4AssedMonkey]

If you're back at the car and moving before 9:00am you shouldn't have traffic issues.  We usually get up about 7:30 and are packed and away inside an hour.  Most times there's a short (10-15 mins) queue to get out of fields and on the road but then it's fine.

 

Anecdotal, but I feel that many more people pack up and leave on Sunday night than ever before.  When we left the tent to head to the Sunday night sub-headliners last year, our field was probably already 25%-30% empty.

[Nuthugger]

9 minutes ago, 4AssedMonkey said:

If you're back at the car and moving before 9:00am you shouldn't have traffic issues.  We usually get up about 7:30 and are packed and away inside an hour.  Most times there's a short (10-15 mins) queue to get out of fields and on the road but then it's fine.

 

Anecdotal, but I feel that many more people pack up and leave on Sunday night than ever before.  When we left the tent to head to the Sunday night sub-headliners last year, our field was probably already 25%-30% empty.

sad state of affairs. 

[Talcroft]

1 hour ago, Nuthugger said:

i have a sober sunday and leave at about 5-5.30am on the monday. no cues. nada. 

Second this. Sober Sunday, little sleep midnight to 4am, pack up the tent and in the car at 5am. Straight out, home to Manchester, showered and in bed by 10.30am. Magic. 

[stuie]

Lots of the East fields all filter on to the same track so it's all down to luck.   There isn't a right or wrong answer and what happened last year probably won't happen this year. 

Get up and leave early by all means but all it takes is a breakdown on the track up ahead (or as has happened several times) a vehicle fire and everyone is screwed. 

 

There's so many things that can go wrong and some things seem inexplicable.  My friend left FMS camping up by Gate B at 8am last year and we left after a couple more hours sleep and still beat him off site!

[Colorblindjames]

Do buses get stuck in the traffic queues as well? I’ve a 12 lunchtime bus booked on the Monday. 

[tarw]

44 minutes ago, Colorblindjames said:

Do buses get stuck in the traffic queues as well? I’ve a 12 lunchtime bus booked on the Monday. 

They don’t generally as they have a devoted route in. It can happen though 2016 was just as horrendous for coaches as cars

[Leyrulion]

12 hours ago, 4AssedMonkey said:

If you're back at the car and moving before 9:00am you shouldn't have traffic issues.  We usually get up about 7:30 and are packed and away inside an hour.  Most times there's a short (10-15 mins) queue to get out of fields and on the road but then it's fine.

 

Anecdotal, but I feel that many more people pack up and leave on Sunday night than ever before.  When we left the tent to head to the Sunday night sub-headliners last year, our field was probably already 25%-30% empty.

Both groups I know that left after Elton last year had horrendous journeys out at midnight. Hour long queues in the dark etc. 

 

Think you're better off sleeping until it's light and you can just see everything better.

[gazzared]

23 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

Both groups I know that left after Elton last year had horrendous journeys out at midnight. Hour long queues in the dark etc. 

 

Think you're better off sleeping until it's light and you can just see everything better.

I normally leave about 8am and was off site quickly but the journey home to Ellesmere port was terrible.... Think I got home about 5/6 pm due to multi crashes on the M6 plus feeling really tired and stopping to sleep for an hour because I hardly slept Sunday night due to the boom boom boom coming from sec corner 🤣 so this year iam gonna try and stay out as late as I can, sleep all Monday and leave Monday evening. 

[Helsbels]

We normally stay on site most of Monday then go to a local B&B. Last year traffic was bad from Orange car park even at 5pmish. Think any stewards had gone home by that point. Other years we've just driven straight out at that time

[StoneCircle]

We stay on-site until Tuesday in East Campervan Fields. Usually a steward checks when we leaving but it's never an issue. I love our final night before letting go of my favourite place for another year! 

[Neil]

23 hours ago, Ben7amin_ said:

My friend left at 8:30 ish last year and might have been stuck for 4 hours though he said they were just not being let out of his bit of the car parks for some unknown reason. 

you can join a not-moving queue and not move for hours, cos when two queues merge one has priority one doesn't and doesn't move.

 

 

[CharlotteB]

9 minutes ago, Neil said:

you can join a not-moving queue and not move for hours, cos when two queues merge one has priority one doesn't and doesn't move.

 

 

 

Do we know if that is by design, or is it a dopey steward with control issues? 😅

[agwah]

 

Thanks all, I am hoping Long Drop's offer can come good, otherwise I may relay to take the most optimistic comment here to my friend to encourage him to party hard on the Sunday 🙂