Bottleneck

[Finding leto14]

How bad were some of the bottle necks of crowds? I know we come to expect waiting but on Friday at the bottom of pennard hill by the toilets was a horrific bottle neck. My gf had a panic attack and they had to get her out. People pushing and causing chaos. There were some stewards there but they weren't in control and didn't have any clue as to what to do. People were queuing for the toilet where the crowds were coming from. It seemed all logistically badly managed at that specific time

[musky]

Realistically there's not much a few stewards can do. It would take quite an organised crew to divert people along other routes and set up barriers quite a distance from that particular spot. As these sort of bottlenecks are usually fairly short lived it's quite likely the crowds would have eased by the time it's set up.

Wouldn't hurt to have them armed with megaphones telling people not to push, look out for each other and rest up for a while though, the sort of advice that's on TOS.

[FuzzyDunlop]

The only time I thought it was dangerous, was trying to get to the silver hayes via other stage on Friday night. Was trying to get to the pussy parlour.

Sacked it off and went to arcadia.

[djdavejohnson]

Some of the crushes in and coming out of SE corner were horrendous this year. Just getting busier and busier! Great fun down there otherwise though.

[nidon]

near the end of madness I tried to get out of the bottom right hand corner heading towards the beat hotel but the entire place was jammed. Quite a few people were heading in the same direction so wasnt because the crowd was static but nobody could move. Eventually got passed the ice cream van and everything was clear from there. 

Obviously the mud caused walkway jams but the crush at madness was frightening

[FuzzyDunlop]

It was a bastard trying to get away from the Pyramid after Beck had finished. Hardly anyone leaving the pit, but 100's trying to get in. 

Took me 40 mins to get to the acoustic tent.

[Mezhyp1]

Entrance to the SE Corner on Sunday night post headliners was extremely dangerous, they put barriers across letting very few people in at a time resulting in horrible crushes, saw plenty people crying/freaking out. I'd usually always avoid this area at this time, but needs must on this occasion 

[warriormonk]

Mud definitely prevents fluid crowd movement and I reckon it was biggest factor in bottlenecks/crushes this year.  

[Guest]

It was terrible after Adele finished though it didn't bother me personally, there was a person having a panic attack. Took an hour and a half to walk up from the Pyramid to gate A

[dexydexy]

Waiting for the Hot Chip Prince tribute was scary. Far, far too many people. It should've been controlled. Tried to get out as it was freaking me out, had to try and walk through a very tight crowd when everyone was coming the opposite way. Wellies sticking in mud and people pushing. Truly terrifying.

then similar situation on the railway track. 

[johnmcga]

Didn't experience any utterly horrendous crushes this year, but had a bit of a moment heading up towards the Park past Arcadia not long after the headliners had finished. People were getting stuck in the ridiculous mud and although there were security guards watching the Park entrance, they provided no guidance, help or control.

I do think some more visible and helpful crowd control at these spots would be helpful. Major junctions between the railway line and Arcadia get mobbed after the headliners, with people trying to head in all different directions.

Steered completely clear of the late-night corner this time, however. Been there, done that, couldn't be doing with the crowds. Plenty of more chilled places to hang out at night!

[Finding leto14]

 

2 hours ago, musky said:

Realistically there's not much a few stewards can do. It would take quite an organised crew to divert people along other routes and set up barriers quite a distance from that particular spot. As these sort of bottlenecks are usually fairly short lived it's quite likely the crowds would have eased by the time it's set up.

Wouldn't hurt to have them armed with megaphones telling people not to push, look out for each other and rest up for a while though, the sort of advice that's on TOS.

Yeah mega phones were nowhere to be seen. Could easily of shouted to those in the queue for the toilet to queue round the otherside. And those entering pennard hill please keep to their right and those leaving please keep to their right. Just basic instruction that could help and it's hardly rocket science. It is the most off putting part of the festival imo but I do understand the mud contributed a lot to it. I think the capacity is too high personally

[sime]

I avoided the big queues on the tracks and walkways going to where ever by walking either side of them in the mud where there was much more room. Have to admit, I did not go to the naughty corner this year as I knew it would be madly busy. I just couldn't be bothered with going through that.

[musky]

4 minutes ago, Finding leto14 said:

 

Yeah mega phones were nowhere to be seen. Could easily of shouted to those in the queue for the toilet to queue round the otherside. And those entering pennard hill please keep to their right and those leaving please keep to their right. Just basic instruction that could help and it's hardly rocket science. It is the most off putting part of the festival imo but I do understand the mud contributed a lot to it. I think the capacity is too high personally

That's the guidance they should be giving really, and the sort of thing that's really easy to implement if the stewards have been given instructions beforehand. Some people are always going to ignore it or be too mashed to take it in, but in the kind of conditions on site anything to ease the situation helps.

[cdm22]

The worst crush by far was Friday night on the train track walking away from the SE corner at about 12.30am/1am. It took nearly an hour to walk down half of it with no chance of escape getting off the track on either side. It was getting rather dangerous with people trying to get through the wire fencing to get out.

[dexydexy]

38 minutes ago, cdm22 said:

The worst crush by far was Friday night on the train track walking away from the SE corner at about 12.30am/1am. It took nearly an hour to walk down half of it with no chance of escape getting off the track on either side. It was getting rather dangerous with people trying to get through the wire fencing to get out.

Yep, this is what I was in. Saw several people jump the wire fence and climb through trees to get out. Horrible.

[Jakeyboy1986]

9 hours ago, nidon said:

near the end of madness I tried to get out of the bottom right hand corner heading towards the beat hotel but the entire place was jammed. Quite a few people were heading in the same direction so wasnt because the crowd was static but nobody could move. Eventually got passed the ice cream van and everything was clear from there. 

Obviously the mud caused walkway jams but the crush at madness was frightening

Yeah this was probably the worst crush we were in too. Left a bit early and we're fairly near the edge but it didn't help. 

[wonker]

At the end of Coldplay towards the left of the stage it was dangerous, quite honestly. There were people getting trampled in the mud and having to look after my girlfriend who has issues with walking (especially in that glue-mud) it was scary.

[Nobody Interesting]

10 hours ago, warriormonk said:

Mud definitely prevents fluid crowd movement and I reckon it was biggest factor in bottlenecks/crushes this year.  

It really was this simple. Very muddy areas made the bottle necks and lots of people instead of using shortcuts stayed on hard paths like the railway line.

Cutting through GreenPeace at night was simple, nobody there as they were all on the railway line.

I know it was tougher than normal and I sympathise for those who felt uncomfortable in the crowds but if you don't like the crowds and crush then you need to plan around it as it is like that every year somewhere, especially at the main stages after headliners.

Edited June 30, 2016 by Nobody Interesting

[Thunderstruck]

12 hours ago, Finding leto14 said:

How bad were some of the bottle necks of crowds? I know we come to expect waiting but on Friday at the bottom of pennard hill by the toilets was a horrific bottle neck. My gf had a panic attack and they had to get her out. People pushing and causing chaos. There were some stewards there but they weren't in control and didn't have any clue as to what to do. People were queuing for the toilet where the crowds were coming from. It seemed all logistically badly managed at that specific time

Really bad at the bottom of Pennards wasn't it. Me and another guy had to start screaming at people to stop pushing because people were going down in the mud, it was really dangerous. Eventually the stewards saw what was happening and closed the route down off the railway track.

[Finding leto14]

2 minutes ago, Nobody Interesting said:

It really was this simple. Very muddy areas made the bottle necks and lots of people instead of using shortcuts stayed on hard paths like the railway line.

Cutting through GreenPeace at night was simple, nobody there as they were all on the railway line.

I know it was tougher than normal and I sympathise for those who felt uncomfortable in the crowds but if you don't like the crowds and crush then you need to plan around it as it is like that every year somewhere, especially at the main stages after headliners.

Why should we plan around a crowd crush? Crowd crushes shouldn't be happening full stop. There will be queues to get out which is fine. But when you have stewards giving no direction as to how people enter an area or leave, or even basic instruction for where people should queue for the toilet. I'm not missing my favourite bands because of some incompetency by lack of organisation in areas. 

[Hotchilidog]

It was the mud. It slowed people down on the walkways and forced people on to narrow stretches of paths. My worst was friday night leaving the pyramid after Muse and then hacking my way through the crowds to the railway track. I basically did all I could to avoid a repeat during the rest of the weekend. The previous week's rain had ruined the ground, it was just one of those things you have to put up with at Glastonbury. Gave the SE corner a complete swerve as I knew it would be really busy and muddy. A shame but not the end of the world.

One suggestion I would make is that in the busier thoroughfares such Silver Hayes through The Other and the Market areas maybe two tracks could be laid down instead of the one at present and then making each one way so you are at least all walking in the same direction. Not sure if this is practical or not but I did seem to find myself going against the flow a lot!

Edited June 30, 2016 by Hotchilidog

[Finding leto14]

3 minutes ago, Thunderstruck said:

Really bad at the bottom of Pennards wasn't it. Me and another guy had to start screaming at people to stop pushing because people were going down in the mud, it was really dangerous. Eventually the stewards saw what was happening and closed the route down off the railway track.

Yep. But the stewards were so slow to react. And I'm not here to slag them off personally because they helped by girlfriend out when she had a panic attack which we are grateful for. But there was no control over the situation where there could of been. It was so frustrating to see and be a part of

[Thunderstruck]

Just now, Finding leto14 said:

Yep. But the stewards were so slow to react. And I'm not here to slag them off personally because they helped by girlfriend out when she had a panic attack which we are grateful for. But there was no control over the situation where there could of been. It was so frustrating to see and be a part of

Yeh, it was minutes before they did anything when I was there. There needed to be more communication from management about how the mud would change traffic flow through certain areas. Bottom of Pennards in the dry might have just been a bit cramped, bottom of Pennards last week was dangerous.

[Nobody Interesting]

14 minutes ago, Finding leto14 said:

Why should we plan around a crowd crush? Crowd crushes shouldn't be happening full stop. There will be queues to get out which is fine. But when you have stewards giving no direction as to how people enter an area or leave, or even basic instruction for where people should queue for the toilet. I'm not missing my favourite bands because of some incompetency by lack of organisation in areas. 

How on earth do you think any amount of stewards can arrange neat queue's for the toilets or stop those at the back who do not want to miss the next band on their list from pushing?

Stewards on megaphones will be ignored by those who do not care - motorways have signs saying keep in lane and people ignore it. I am afraid it is, for many, just human nature.

I missed the starts of some sets and put it down to 'just one of those things'. It was muddy, it was cold and wet. No need to get irate about it or blame unpaid volunteers without whom the festival would cease to exist.