creative Glastonbury Festival fence jumper fined

Glastonbury Festival 2016

Wednesday 22nd to Sunday 26th June 2016
Worthy Farm, Pilton, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, BA4 4AZ, England MAP
£228 - SOLD OUT

Daily capacity: 203,000

There has always been people desperate to get into Glastonbury Festival without a ticket, but a man who made it into the Festival by flying in over the fence with a paramotor has been fined.

David Hoare was fined by magistrates at Weston-super-Mare after he breached the restricted airspace over Worthy Farm during the Festival, when he took off from a nearby hillside and successfully landed in the Sacred Space field on the Saturday evening of the 2015 festival.

The 59-year-old used a paramotor, a parachute that can be guided with a small propeller engine strapped to a flier's back, and flew over the Park Field before landing in the Sacred Space where he was quickly apprehended by security personnel before he could ditch the paramotor and melt away into the crowds.

The air space over the Festival is restricted to protect the public at the Festival and the restriction applies not just to planes, helicopters and paragliders but also drones.

The magistrates in Weston fined him £400 and ordered him to pay £160 costs to the Civil Aviation Authority.

It was the second time Hoare had committed the same offence. He did the exact same thing in 2010 and that time was fined £250 by magistrates in Yeovil in November 2011, with £100 in costs. eFestivals is aware of a paramotor landing in 2004 in the sacred space and previous to that in 1997 before the wall went up, but in both case it's understood the perpetrator disappeared into the crowd.

The superfence was put in place after an estimated 250,000 people attend the festival in 2000 (only 100,000 tickets were sold). The gatecrashers led to public safety concerns and to get a licence from local District Council organisers installed the substantial surrounding fence, and combined it with patrols and watchtowers that has done it's bit to keep gatecrashers out ever since.

Tickets for this year have sold out. For those still hoping to get tickets, there is good news. There will be a re-sale in Spring, but the number of tickets will, as expected be limited.

The dates for the 2016 Festival will be from Wednesday 22nd to Sunday 26th June. There are no acts confirmed yet for 2016. Expect something like 2,000 performances at over 100 venues including music, cabaret, theatre, circus, a fantastic Kidz area, poetry, green crafts and information, site art, decor, and loads, loads more ... much more than just the music, so make sure you check it all out!

As usual eFestivals will bring you the very best-sourced rumours, allowing festival-goers to see who is playing long before the bands are formally announced - keep your eyes on the Glastonbury 2016 rumours, updated as we receive information.

Help us to help you - if you hear of a band that's playing, please let us know.

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