I broke into Glasto....

[gooner1990]

As harsh as it sounds, if you lose your ticket it's nobodys fault but your own. I go to a lot of gigs/festivals/football matches each year and I have place in my house where I keep every single ticket that comes through the door. Therefore I know that when it comes to a Saturday morning and im off to watch Arsenal away at wherever I know the ticket will be there. Ditto with festival tickets.

On the way to Reading 2002, my friend lost his ticket which I had paid for on my card, despite his pleading and me showing the reciept from the purchace etc there was nothing they could do, as how did they know we had not sold it on to a tout/mate.

Luckily we were able to club together to get him another ticket between 10 of us (tickets back then were only £90) and he paid us back after the festival. Frustrating for him, but as he admitted at the time his own fault for not keeping it safer (he'd put it in his back pocket and must have come out when moving his rucksack on the journey.)

I too sympathse with OP, I would be gutted if i lost my ticket. Maybe a lesson in future would to not leave your ticket lying around near the rubbish bin!

As for any sort of barcode system...if such a system was in place then if OP reports his ticket lost before the gates open then they could deactivate the barcode on the original ticket and re-issue him one at the gate. This is done by most top football clubs when people lose match tickets. I know as long ago as 2004 this was in place, when Arsenal played Man Utd at Old Trafford around this time Royal Mail failed to deliver 8 tickets (inc mine) to a friends house. Arsenal got the orginal tickets cancelled, and issued duplicates. That way if any of the original tickets ended up with people trying to get in the barcode would not go to green and access would be denied.

[Laura_Babs]

Ok, I have read most of the thread now (or about half) but got bored. Sorry!

Just one point:

Does anyone remember when tickets came out for 2008 (I think it was 08 could have been 07). Lots of people including myself had an issue with ordering tickets online. For one reason or another, people were calling up See Tickets to check they had tickets. Most were calling because the confirmation screen didn't pop up on their screen. When getting through to the phone line they were told their tickets hadn't been ordered (e.g. reference no. still worked) but not to worry,they could order them now. Many people then ordered them again and had two sets of tickets on order. It was fine - See Tickets cancelled one order and let people keep the other order but it highlights potential IT problems with the computers not synching up.

Not sure why that happened as was surprised that the system in place wasn't sophisticated enough, but can imagine that the same thing could happen at the actual festival if they were to use a computer system to check people in.

[ThomThomDrum]

Ok, I have read most of the thread now (or about half) but got bored. Sorry!

Just one point:

Does anyone remember when tickets came out for 2008 (I think it was 08 could have been 07). Lots of people including myself had an issue with ordering tickets online. For one reason or another, people were calling up See Tickets to check they had tickets. Most were calling because the confirmation screen didn't pop up on their screen. When getting through to the phone line they were told their tickets hadn't been ordered (e.g. reference no. still worked) but not to worry,they could order them now. Many people then ordered them again and had two sets of tickets on order. It was fine - See Tickets cancelled one order and let people keep the other order but it highlights potential IT problems with the computers not synching up.

Not sure why that happened as was surprised that the system in place wasn't sophisticated enough, but can imagine that the same thing could happen at the actual festival if they were to use a computer system to check people in.

[Laura_Babs]

Think thats more of a reflection of how shit SEE are TBH

[sadwitch]

Didn't efestivals once forget their I.D that they needed to get in and have to phone up and Eavis and beg?

[Poppydog]

I haven't read the whole thread, so apologies if someones mentioned it.

Isn't there an INSURANCE option at the ticket buying stage for a couple of quid?

If this covers loss or theft and the OP took it out, there's no problem

If they declined the insurance option, then they probably have no recourse

[Laura_Babs]

I haven't read the whole thread, so apologies if someones mentioned it.

Isn't there an INSURANCE option at the ticket buying stage for a couple of quid?

If this covers loss or theft and the OP took it out, there's no problem

If they declined the insurance option, then they probably have no recourse

[Josie's Cat]

I say we go back to 1970!

A quid to get in, no fence, free milk and great big hairy lady beavers!

Aaah.. a golden age it t'was...

[Laura_Babs]

You should have been at the Magic Hat Sauna...

Reading most of this thread, it's hard to argue with Efestivals logic. I WANT to, but I just can't. Logic's like that.

[Sam Crawley]

To be honest I assumed that the "if you lose your ticket, it's tough" line was just an official policy to put people off trying it on - I never realised it was actually true. I can understand why they're so strict, but you'd hope they were at least considering each year whether it was time to go to a more technologically advanced ticket system at the gates - each year it must get more viable to computerise the lot, and combine that with an eticket system of some kind. Effectively Glasto has remarkable similar challenges to airports in terms of identifying people and maintaining a secure area, surely there's some best practice to be shared there. And just like Gatwick there's the monorail! Am liking the analogy. Now where's the Pilton Duty Free?!...

[posthuman]

We live in times where not everyone, believe it or not, can happily throw away £200 and just deal with it. There are many of us who save up a lot of money just to go this lovely field one weekend every year which also means a lot to people. But you have to remember. We have one life. One bloody life. And sometimes rules must be forgotten, I mean of course I don't want to make it alright for everyone but when you're in such desperate circumstances then you just have to bloody go for it. I just really think its a shame that some people feel they have to take a non existent moral highground just to live up to some sort of mature status that essentially means nothing in the real world. Glastonbury is one of the only places where you can truly escape reality and life but its so sad when the real world slowly creeps into such an event where there is a smug presence from such establishments as Ticketmaster who do not care for the behaviour of their employees. Its just a shame that people cant sit back and really think about what really is the right thing to do and not think about whats the right thing to do according to f**king rules.

Sorry if this came across as confusing but I think its unfair the way some people want to condemn the poor bloke who had to go through this.

[Laura_Babs]

I have to get my blonde haired friend who vaugely looks like me back at Glastonbury next year. I have just realised that I am blonde and pale skinned and everyone else in my group is either

1/ Male

2/ Black/mixed race female

If I lose my ticket I don't stand a chance of getting in on someone elses ticket!

[Artie Fufkin]

those remote links - how do you guarantee that they stay up 100% of the time (and not 99.999% of the time - that's no good)? You can't. No one can.

It's not a difficult system to put in place and to have working. The difficulties are in ensuring that it's *always* working.

It would be a very brave man who decided to risk chaos on the entry system that currently works as well as any entry system will ever work by replacing it with one that will fail at some time or other (cos they always fail sometime) - and sod's law says that it'll probably fail at the very worst moment to fail too.

However much resilience you build into such a system will never be enough. At some time it'll fail.

[dougied]

A couple of things from earlier on in this thread.

"but banks still don't give people more money if they've lost the money they've just withdrawn.

But even if they did, the result of them doing so does not risk anyone dying as allowing people in without tickets would at Glastonbury."

So exactly how many people did die in the pre-2002 days when the site was clearly overcrowded? Of course it's not desirable but let's not get carried away.

"If a stage goes down, it has no consequences beyond a little disappointment. If an electronic gate system goes down, the whole festival is 100% f**ked."

Wasn't it the case last year that one of the (non-electronic) gates was closed on Thursday due to the fire at the tyre place? Was the whole festival 100% f**ked? No. Again, not ideal, but not catastrophic.

As for the arguments that the festival would lose its licence if the official capacity was exceeded, it seems pretty clear from reading this thread that it would be virtually impossible for Mendip Council to ever prove that was the case. Only an electronic system would allow relaible data to be collected.

I have every sympathy with the OP. None of the comparisons are valid. If you went to Tesco and forgot your wallet, of course you wouldn't expect them to give you free groceries - you would go home and get your wallet. The OP did not have this option. In other scenarios, such as the rail ticket mentioned, if he was able to demonstrate he'd made the purchase, the ticket would be replaced. Been there, done that.

I'm afraid his experience is symptomatic of some things I saw for the first time this year - some unnecessarily unhelpful security and staff.

[paulo999]

Much of the festival is done on hugely reduced budgets. Everything from the artists downwards is, in most cases, powered by goodwill rather than simple cash.

I'm guessing that's why Seetickets, rather than Ticketmaster, do the tickets. They want a leg up that TM need far less.

But do remember that these goodwill ventures are not without pain. 2004 was a tech disaster for See on Internet sales. 2007 was a disaster for coach packages.

If a new system was brought in for the gates, it would either be done on the cheap, or it would bump ticket prices.

I would verrry much doubt TM would install and run an electronic validation system for less than £250k.

That's not to say it would never happen, but it would be one of a number of things competing for budget. If we added up all the thing "we" would like to see, at just a few pounds per ticket each, we'd be at £250 per ticket in no time.

It's not that it's a bad idea, or totally impossible to do, but it's important to recognise there's lots of very valid competition for budget at an event (of any scale).

Oh and sympathies to the predicament of the OP. Two of our regulars got let down by Royal Mail and thus sadly had to miss this year's festival. They didn't even throw their own tickets away. Gutting.

[eFestivals]

Edit: Oh, and the current system is NOT perfect. If it was perfect, this thread would not exist.

it's perfect from Glasto's point of view. After all, they're only able to take responsibility for themselves - just like ticketholders can only take responsibility for themselves.

[eFestivals]

Didn't efestivals once forget their I.D that they needed to get in and have to phone up and Eavis and beg?

nope. I was 100% told by someone at Glasto (I forget who now) that I could enter without ID, because I had none of the ID they were wanting. I never had the make the call, tho I had to threaten to make it to get the gate staff to allow me to enter.

[eFestivals]

Sorry, I don't like being pedantic (but i'm going to be, cus there's nothing i hate more than bullshit numbers being made up and thrown around to make a point), but if a system was to only work for 99.999% of the time, over 5 days, it would be down for a little over 4 seconds. I think they could probably deal with that catastrophe.

ok, I over-stated the percentage.

But, I'm sure many of us have noticed that they can't even keep up a constant electricity supply for the gates, with those supplies being localised and independent of anything else. And what's needed for an electronic entry system? Electricity.

So those failures are more than enough to screw an electronic entry system, before you get on to the problems that an electronic entry system would also have.

[eFestivals]

So exactly how many people did die in the pre-2002 days when the site was clearly overcrowded? Of course it's not desirable but let's not get carried away.

how many people had died at Monsters of Rock before some people died? How many people had died at Roskilde before some people died?

Glasto don't want people to die. And so sure as hell they're going to ensure as much as they can that the systems they have in place reduce that risk to the minimum it can possibly be.

Wasn't it the case last year that one of the (non-electronic) gates was closed on Thursday due to the fire at the tyre place? Was the whole festival 100% f**ked? No. Again, not ideal, but not catastrophic.

were those effected by it happy and smiling?

As for the arguments that the festival would lose its licence if the official capacity was exceeded, it seems pretty clear from reading this thread that it would be virtually impossible for Mendip Council to ever prove that was the case. Only an electronic system would allow relaible data to be collected.

is it proof they need, or just a belief that it happened? If there's no proof either way but a belief by MDC that it happened and a belief by Glasto that it didn't, who has the upper hand and via that control of the future of the festival? MDC.

I have every sympathy with the OP. None of the comparisons are valid. If you went to Tesco and forgot your wallet, of course you wouldn't expect them to give you free groceries - you would go home and get your wallet. The OP did not have this option.

of no relevance. A ticket is needed just as money is needed in Tesco.

I'm afraid his experience is symptomatic of some things I saw for the first time this year - some unnecessarily unhelpful security and staff.

They have no necessity to help someone without a ticket to enter. It's really as simple as that.

[denwyn]

Quite frankly...IF YOU LOSE YOUR TICKEK ITS YOUR OWN FAULT....and if you did as you seem to say break in , and had been chucked out its no more than you deserve. My ticket never left my side from when i set out to the festival untill i returned home.

[eFestivals]

I'm guessing that's why Seetickets, rather than Ticketmaster, do the tickets. They want a leg up that TM need far less.

that's not actually true - See sell many more tickets in the UK each year than Ticketmaster do.

[chrismcb]

Ok I've read most of the pages on this. I think it is a bit stupid that there is nothing you can do for a lost ticket. eFestivals says that the system is 'PERFECT' but then says that they shouldn't let the OP in because they wouldn't know if he sold the ticket on. But if the system was perfect surely they would spot at the gate that the person he sold the ticket to wasn't him and they wouldn't be let in? The blame would fully be on the person buying the ticket off eBay or whatever knowing that they are taking a risk.

I know eFestivals also said that two people can look alike and may be hard to tell, but doesn't that also tell you that the system is flawed?

The argument about not using barcoded tickets etc. because 'the system might go down' is a bit pointless. If that was the case we would never use computers for anything! Computers are used for more dangerous situations than a festival. If power fails then they should have a reliable backup. Sure it may be an extra cost but if it increases security then why not? By hiring staff at the gates to check tickets, that's extra cost, if they were worried more about cost than security just get rid of the staff at the gate too while your at it!

If the network went down a local copy of the tickets scanned could be kept, if more than one ticket was scanned with the same reference at the same gate they would be alerted (even with network down), then once the network was back up and running they could synchronize with eachother again. Fair enough they may have missed a duplicate entry from two different gates but you still have more chance of catching a duplicate than before at the same gate and when the network is up you have a secure entry system.

If you buy a ticket for other things such as flights etc and you lose it, you just simply print it out again. Glastonbury could easily do the same.

Edited July 10, 2009 by chrismcb

[russycarps]

Why should I pay more for my ticket just so the festival can implement a system to help out the handful of morons who can't look after a piece of paper?

What utter rubbish.

[-pogo-]

How much you've spent is an irrelevance. An equivalent of what you're saying is: You go to the bank and withdraw £1000; you lose that £1000; you go back to the bank and demand another £1000 cos you lost the first £1000; they laugh at you cos you're taking the piss and don't give you another £1000.

[chrismcb]

Why should I pay more for my ticket just so the festival can implement a system to help out the handful of morons who can't look after a piece of paper?

What utter rubbish.