An unfortunate trail of events...

[essex_veteran_society]

Hello,

Was new to the delights of Wychwood till this year. I did have a truely wonderful time, but someone did try to get into our tent on Friday night. We were camping near the tipi's, and a few other people near us were robbed. I know Wychwood did all they could on Sat. night, but i was wondering how many people were effected by thesee heartless people? I heard someone saying this happened before too.

Appart from that slip up, it was a wondeful weekend, but i'm still not sure about having a concrete path system in a festival

Hope everyone retains their chilled festival vibe at work tomorrow , and doesn't let life stress them out too much till the next field we desend upon in our masses!

Much love to you all,

Tom

[Neville Street]

Sorry to hear that. We were in Quiet camping (by accident and chastised ) and were unaffected. We did wonder what all the security was about.

I got over the concrete paths - it meant me and the kids could go to the front without losing our footwear. I think they should be mandatory!!!

Next fields are only a few weeks away - hoping to retain the vibe through the working days until then!! NS

[Jimboaa]

Managed to avoid the theving gits.

Next fields are only in a few days time so avoiding work till after that. It was indeed a fantastic fest.

Hope to see all of you dancing in a field sometime soon.

[timespeedsup]

Security told us (not, I hasten to add, cos we looked suspicious by dusk ) that 5 tents reported the taking of things on the Friday night. They told us that it happened all over the camping site. They told us about people allegedly went into the innards of tents whilst people were asleep in them, fished out wallets and trousers that might have wallets, then made off. They told us that if challenged, the chancers would act drunk and claim to have thought this was their friends' tent. & they told us about a public right of way from a housing estate at the back of the course.

& IMO security looked keen to catch the chancers.

[marooned]

they told us about a public right of way from a housing estate at the back of the course.

/quote]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All is revealed then......asbos all round.

Not a laughing matter - Denis, do you remember we tried offering substinance and help to a 'crime victim'

on the Saturday Night (I think you had the fish supper on your head at the time) - you must remember man,

the 'ugly stick' incident!!!!!! Neighhhhh, neighhhhhh - favourite in the 2.15....where's me fkn vodka

[blurman]

We got out crate of beer robbed which i wasnt happy about but lucky compared to some, at the last count there were over 50 tents reported being robbed, most reports about descriptions were they had a scouce or Manc accent txxxts wish someone had caught them

[gratedenini]

<<<<Not a laughing matter - Denis, do you remember we tried offering substinance and help to a 'crime victim'

on the Saturday Night (I think you had the fish supper on your head at the time) - you must remember man,

the 'ugly stick' incident!!!!!! Neighhhhh, neighhhhhh - favourite in the 2.15....where's me fkn vodka

Edited June 3, 2008 by gratedenini

[vampcherry]

The friday night we had two people in our tent when we were in there trying to get to sleep within one hour, both times it was "sorry mate, wrong tent". We had a tiny zebra print tent FFS the like of which I had no seen anywhere else on site, so not a very convincing excuse! We gave up, packed up the tent, went to report it, and slept in the car for the rest of the festival which was much nicer. I won't be camping again, I just didn't feel safe enough. The security and police did seem to be doing a very good job though fair play to them. I think it's a sad sign of today's society :-( I remember a time years ago when I used to go to Glastonbury and we never even thought of people breaking into tents! Now we have to expect that kind of thing.

Edited June 3, 2008 by vampcherry

[Aaron95]

The policewoman I spoke to on Sunday said there had been about 50-odd reported thefts from tents on the Friday night. We were near the tee-pees, but as far as I know we were lucky and nobody broke into our tent. Nothing was taken in any case, although there wasn't much worth stealing apart from smelly clothes and a couple of packets of crisps.

I'm not sure what the organisers can really do about it unfortunately short of having a guard outside every tent.

[eFestivals]

The policewoman I spoke to on Sunday said there had been about 50-odd reported thefts from tents on the Friday night. We were near the tee-pees, but as far as I know we were lucky and nobody broke into our tent. Nothing was taken in any case, although there wasn't much worth stealing apart from smelly clothes and a couple of packets of crisps.

I'm not sure what the organisers can really do about it unfortunately short of having a guard outside every tent.

I heard reports of about 50 tents being robbed too - but all of the incidents happened just on Friday night, and that they only took cash (wallets, etc, that were taken were dumped nearby with only the cash missing).

It's a fairly common problem at festivals over the last few years for robbing like this to go on on the first night and just the first night (when people are likely to have the most cash on them), so it seems that there's some sort of organised gang that are hitting fests in this way rather than it being locals doing the crime. I believe that it's the first time that Wychwood have had this sort of trouble so hopefully they'll be better prepared to catch them if it happens again.

It probably didn't much help that half the old bill were partying in the Silent Disco rather than doing their job which the fest had coughed up lots of money for them to do.

[magnusmouse]

I was robbed on the Friday night at Wychwood. As with other festivals the robbers appear to work on the understanding that people come to the festival with a big wedge of money then really go for it on the first night then go back to their tents a little worse for wear. They wait till they hear snoring from a tent then walk into tents safe in the knowledge that if the occupants wake up all they have to say is 'sorry mate wrong tent' . I heard this from plenty of people this year whilst queuing for the police. I was robbed of £200 and on top of that loss have now got to buy a new tent as the thieves also cut a large hole at the top of my tent.

I have an idea that would cut the number of robberies significantly and could actually eliminate them. if we knew that there would be banks (geddit) of reasonably priced (or preferably free) cash points on site then the desire to take enough cash for the weekend would be way less. If the organisers in turn heavily advertised the fact that there would be cash machines aplenty and strongly recommended that people only carried small amounts of cash with them then the Friday night would not be the easy pickings that it clearly is. From what I gather the problem is getting worse every year and with the masses of small festivals that are cropping up, i'd have a guess that this might well be a summer job for a good number of people.

I noticed vehicles with floodlights patrolling the perimeter on the Saturday night and always plenty of police in the area - now i'm not sure but I'd say that the patrolling of the campsite was done too late and that the police should have their base in the campsite and concentrate on patrolling that rather than the arena where I saw no sign , nor heard of any crime at all. i guess that there were the odd things nicked from the stall but i'd argue that having someone coming into your tent with a knife when you were asleep was a much more serious crime. The police van was not open until 10 in the morning - can i assume from that that there were no police on site at night when the thefts were taking place?

[eFestivals]

I noticed vehicles with floodlights patrolling the perimeter on the Saturday night and always plenty of police in the area - now i'm not sure but I'd say that the patrolling of the campsite was done too late and that the police should have their base in the campsite and concentrate on patrolling that rather than the arena where I saw no sign , nor heard of any crime at all. i guess that there were the odd things nicked from the stall but i'd argue that having someone coming into your tent with a knife when you were asleep was a much more serious crime. The police van was not open until 10 in the morning - can i assume from that that there were no police on site at night when the thefts were taking place?

security was of course stepped up on Saturday night after what happened on Friday - and of course it's easy to be wise with that hindsight. As Wychwood hadn't suffered with such things previously (not the the same extent at least) it's understandable (perhaps a little naive as well, but still understandable) that they didn't really expect such thing to happen and so security wasn't at a level which might (and only 'might') have stopped some of it.

Police were defo still on site late on Friday night - unfortunately at least some of them were partying in the Silent Disco and not doing what they should have been. This is of course the fault of the police and not Wychwood, and something that Wychwood will be justifiably angry about. I suspect that some copper somewhere has had his knuckles rapped about this, and hopefully it won't happen again.

[magnusmouse]

security was of course stepped up on Saturday night after what happened on Friday - and of course it's easy to be wise with that hindsight. As Wychwood hadn't suffered with such things previously (not the the same extent at least) it's understandable (perhaps a little naive as well, but still understandable) that they didn't really expect such thing to happen and so security wasn't at a level which might (and only 'might') have stopped some of it.

Police were defo still on site late on Friday night - unfortunately at least some of them were partying in the Silent Disco and not doing what they should have been. This is of course the fault of the police and not Wychwood, and something that Wychwood will be justifiably angry about. I suspect that some copper somewhere has had his knuckles rapped about this, and hopefully it won't happen again.

[gratedenini]

Fancy having to friggin kip in yer motor eh because of this crap. Honestly I friggin despair about how this world is going--I`m so glad I`m well into the 2nd Half of my life on Earth.

See, me right-- if my family were starving --I`d nick from any basatfd me (I`ve done it!) ---i`d nick anybodies food if my kids need ed it. FOOD right!

But what we have in todays soceity nowadays is The Haves and The Havenots .. now without being too general--everybody at that festival was in the 1st catergory imo --no matter how people might say ""eeee i had to save for 3 yrs to come to this festival" blah balh--in the main most folks who go to these events have plenty of nickable stuff with them--and we can complain about the police (or lack of em) but at the end of the day--if someone wants yer gear--they are gonna have it because these bastards have no concieus concencious conshen well they`ve got no morals right!

Personally, I always sleep with a crock of me own piss by my right side and some acid from work by me left--and if anybody comes near me mumbling words of "OoooSorry mate, wrong place" --- they get both crocks.

See, on the one hand --it abhors me --but on the other,logically--we are easy meat arent we?

captives,pissed,on the whole easy-going hippy types who wouldnt put up too much struggle..esp you Southeners.

Wait see if anybody tries to take on the Might of The German Nation --our lass would knock 7 shades out of em I tell yer.

I think a very valid point was made about the Cash Machines being in plentiful suplpy (I only spotted 2).

However, if a gang has made the decision to go creepin -- nowts gonna stop em--it all comes down to us as individuals to be as wary as we can.... I really feel sorry for those that got welched.

Den

hey--just had a crackin angle for next year.. I think we might have a stall selling crocks of piss and acid.

[magnusmouse]

Fancy having to friggin kip in yer motor eh because of this crap. Honestly I friggin despair about how this world is going--I`m so glad I`m well into the 2nd Half of my life on Earth.

See, me right-- if my family were starving --I`d nick from any basatfd me (I`ve done it!) ---i`d nick anybodies food if my kids need ed it. FOOD right!

But what we have in todays soceity nowadays is The Haves and The Havenots .. now without being too general--everybody at that festival was in the 1st catergory imo --no matter how people might say ""eeee i had to save for 3 yrs to come to this festival" blah balh--in the main most folks who go to these events have plenty of nickable stuff with them--and we can complain about the police (or lack of em) but at the end of the day--if someone wants yer gear--they are gonna have it because these bastards have no concieus concencious conshen well they`ve got no morals right!

Personally, I always sleep with a crock of me own piss by my right side and some acid from work by me left--and if anybody comes near me mumbling words of "OoooSorry mate, wrong place" --- they get both crocks.

See, on the one hand --it abhors me --but on the other,logically--we are easy meat arent we?

captives,pissed,on the whole easy-going hippy types who wouldnt put up too much struggle..esp you Southeners.

Wait see if anybody tries to take on the Might of The German Nation --our lass would knock 7 shades out of em I tell yer.

I think a very valid point was made about the Cash Machines being in plentiful suplpy (I only spotted 2).

However, if a gang has made the decision to go creepin -- nowts gonna stop em--it all comes down to us as individuals to be as wary as we can.... I really feel sorry for those that got welched.

Den

hey--just had a crackin angle for next year.. I think we might have a stall selling crocks of piss and acid.

[eFestivals]

Coppers dancing the night away is disgraceful but. i hope somebody took their pictures and reports them.

I believe that Wychwood already has photographic &/or video evidence of this - if not, we know where they can get some, or some more if they need it.

[Stashbox]

Just some thoughts. . . .

!. If you must have cash and cards at your tent, seal them in a poly bag and place under your groundsheet or better still carve a shallow hole then lay tent on top. Even better find somewhere remote from you tent to 'stash' up your valuables ( lock-ups ? ) .

2. Not many moons ago, we always had at least one person permanently 'on guard' whatever the time and whomever was playing. This does involve a little organising between friends and everyone has to take a shift, but we never lost anything despite some serious shit going down around us at times.

3. Hindsight is always a wonderful thing.

4. The police sometimes set up 'rat catcher' tents . Entertaining to watch the results.

[no smoke without fire]

I had one mate have his jeans taken from the tent and then returned minus his wallet containing £185. I had another mate drop his wallet containing £300 and some wonderful bloke used the driving licence picture to return the wallet to him. So the festival attracts both ends of the spectrum. What might sort the thieves out would be some sort of saftey deposit box system (that has permanent security) where you can leave your valuables and cash for a fee. Alternatively we should be able to buy a kit containing a snoring machine (my mate could do the snore over) and base ball bat.

[magnusmouse]

I had one mate have his jeans taken from the tent and then returned minus his wallet containing £185. I had another mate drop his wallet containing £300 and some wonderful bloke used the driving licence picture to return the wallet to him. So the festival attracts both ends of the spectrum. What might sort the thieves out would be some sort of saftey deposit box system (that has permanent security) where you can leave your valuables and cash for a fee. Alternatively we should be able to buy a kit containing a snoring machine (my mate could do the snore over) and base ball bat.

[marooned]

I believe that Wychwood already has photographic &/or video evidence of this - if not, we know where they can get some, or some more if they need it.

[jollynolly]

I liked the police people, they were realy friendly and did jig with me to a whole lot of rosie!

[magnusmouse]

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So, the coppers took some time out to show a lighter side and maybe even do a bit of 'bonding' - big deal!

I dare say that, if they'd been aware of the 'scallies', they'd have been on 'normal' duties pretty damn quick.

Make it hard for a few of them, and all you'll accomplish is a HARDER Police presence at next year's Wychwood.

They are NOT the villains in this matter.........

[eFestivals]

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So, the coppers took some time out to show a lighter side and maybe even do a bit of 'bonding' - big deal!

I dare say that, if they'd been aware of the 'scallies', they'd have been on 'normal' duties pretty damn quick.

Make it hard for a few of them, and all you'll accomplish is a HARDER Police presence at next year's Wychwood.

They are NOT the villains in this matter.........

no, they're not the villains, but had they been doing the job the festival had no choice but to pay them for then perhaps these thefts wouldn't have happened.

Any festival gets come-backs from the regulatory authorities about crime on site, in a "you didn't have enough security" way. If a part of the security - and a part of the security that the festival has no control over (as they do with their own security teams) - are not doing what they are there to do then it's not right or fair that the festival gets black marks for this lack of security.

Ultimately it's likely that Wychwood will be told that it has to pay the police for even more police on site next year because of this crime, which impacts on the price of a festival ticket. Had the police been doing what they should have been doing then this situation might not have come about.

[eFestivals]

50 people got robbed - say that was £200 each (probably more like £250) £10-12k in a night!?

from what I was told by an excellent source, it seems that luckily only a few people had amounts of £200 or more stolen. It seems that the majority of the thefts were of far smaller amounts.

[shugie]

from what I was told by an excellent source, it seems that luckily only a few people had amounts of £200 or more stolen. It seems that the majority of the thefts were of far smaller amounts.