Creamfields Was a Disaster

[Dis©oDan]

FFS all these cloak and dagger coverup accusations!!!!

Yes admittedly things have happened and they do tend happen at all festivals not just CF, yes there was a shortfall in policing and security, I think however, now that this situation has been brought to light I have no doubt that James Barton and the Cream organisation will address this situation as best they can.

As a proud scouser I sincerly appologise for the actions of a few bad apples... these people are scum and should be birched in the street.

To the victims of crime at CF I also send my sincerest condolences and hope that this will not put you off going to festivals in the future.

[Delboy71]

This is getting ridiculous. There is no evidence that crimes have been 'covered up' (a very serious accusation I might add) and, as I said before, we can only go by the actual evidence we have, which is that Creamfields passed by largely peacefully and the vast majority had a great time. I'm sure everyone sympathises with those that were victims of crime but would everyone please stop blowing things out of all proportion.

musiclove123 >> there were over 4 times as many people at Glasto but do you have the crime figures? I doubt that there were no robberies or assaults at all in the whole event!!

eFestivals >> the same applies, can you back up your comments implying that Creamfields is the worst Festie for these sort of incidents?

[Oddone]

It would be very interested to get hold of proper accurate stats for all the major festies and compare.

[benc]

This is getting ridiculous. There is no evidence that crimes have been 'covered up' (a very serious accusation I might add) and, as I said before, we can only go by the actual evidence we have, which is that Creamfields passed by largely peacefully and the vast majority had a great time. I'm sure everyone sympathises with those that were victims of crime but would everyone please stop blowing things out of all proportion.

musiclove123 >> there were over 4 times as many people at Glasto but do you have the crime figures? I doubt that there were no robberies or assaults at all in the whole event!!

eFestivals >> the same applies, can you back up your comments implying that Creamfields is the worst Festie for these sort of incidents?

Edited September 3, 2010 by benc

[eFestivals]

eFestivals >> the same applies, can you back up your comments implying that Creamfields is the worst Festie for these sort of incidents?

As was clearly stated in what I posted (which I removed after consideration, tho not because I feel my comments were wrong but because I felt they might be considered as carrying more weight because of my position than other opinions here) "It's possible that I've just been in the wrong/right place at the wrong/right time for these things to happen under my nose at Creamfields while the opposite has been true at other festivals."

[Delboy71]

As was clearly stated in what I posted (which I removed after consideration, tho not because I feel my comments were wrong but because I felt they might be considered as carrying more weight because of my position than other opinions here) "It's possible that I've just been in the wrong/right place at the wrong/right time for these things to happen under my nose at Creamfields while the opposite has been true at other festivals."

[eFestivals]

It would be very interested to get hold of proper accurate stats for all the major festies and compare.

Stats are only half the story. They give no indication of what the severity of any crime might be.

[fifilabouche_2000]

man this thread has got a bit out of hand really, it started off as a discussion about a gang of thugs who wreaked havoc in the red campsite and has now descended into rubbish about covering things up and people lying etc etc. The bottom line is the security around the perimiter of the campsite was a joke allowing the thugs to clim over the fence and do as they please, next year I would hope that the result of this thread means creamfields increase this security.

And for the record I dont want to seem like I started the whole rape accusation, all I said was that I heard the same gang of guys who said they had robbed and attacked people talking about attacking a drunk girl and hoping the person didnt report it because they already had one rape charge. At the time I was sure it was just an exaggeration but seeming how it is apparent that they did do half of the other things they talked about, it was worrying. I hope its not true.

and creamfields nutter, no I dont sit on forums all day waiting for people to post, i must have posted 3 or 4 times on this thread which is a record for me. I like this forum for a bit of banter before the fest and to get info on what other people are doing/taking/planning etc. everyone is entitled to an opinion so leave it at that.

[Delboy71]

Stats are only half the story. They give no indication of what the severity of any crime might be.

[creamfields nutter]

i wholey apologize to anyone i may of offended in any of my recent posts on this forum and agree that we should just move on and let things be

[eFestivals]

I posted a number of comments yesterday in this thread, which after a few hours consideration I felt were ill advised, and so removed them without any prompting from anyone. After a discussion with Cream I've decided to better explain myself.

The comments I made were based on my experiences of having attended Creamfields five years and more ago when it was still held at Speke, along with comments I made based on the wider festival scene. All of those comments were made with those contexts explicitly stated, but I recognise that it will have been possible for them to be taken as relating to this year by someone not reading closely what I posted.

I didn't attend Creamfields this year, and haven't done since it was held in Speke five years ago. It was because what I said wasn't relating to this year that with hindsight I felt the comments ill advised and deleted them last night.

Without having been there myself it would have been wise for me to butt out and not fan the flames of rumour and speculation further, particularly as my position at eFestivals can give the impression that I was speaking with absolute authority and knowledge of what went on.

I have apologised to Cream for any difficulties my comments might have caused them. It wasn't my intention for people to take from my words that Creamfields has crime issues beyond what might happen at other festivals, nor that Creamfields doesn't try to deal with incidents of crime in a different way to other festivals.

[bexy1984]

Hey Dom, we got done by the same gang. 6 of them came into our tent asked us for everything we had or they'd stab us in the neck..security came within 2 mins, and 1 guy was detained...! Never been so scared in all my life. still getting flash backs. How is your friend? What has happend to the rats? 1 of my mates got a kick in the head by 1 of them. We are so lucky to get away un harmed :-(

I wont be going there again!

[Dom Ford]

Hey Dom, we got done by the same gang. 6 of them came into our tent asked us for everything we had or they'd stab us in the neck..security came within 2 mins, and 1 guy was detained...! Never been so scared in all my life. still getting flash backs. How is your friend? What has happend to the rats? 1 of my mates got a kick in the head by 1 of them. We are so lucky to get away un harmed :-(

I wont be going there again!

[blahblah]

Camped staff this year. Was interesting.

Spent quite a bit of time talking to the Oxfam staff - the ones in the towers around the boundary fences and throughout the campsite. They had reported fence jumpers (successful and unsuccessful...the 8 guys dressed up as ninjas trying to jump through the staff campsite, before being absolutely nailed by securtiy was a personal highlight...) and all sorts. After being at lots of UK festivals, I decided to take a wander around the main campsite and look at it from a security perspective.

Glastonbury has a superfence. V has a huge metal fence. Reading and Leeds are like fortresses. Creamfields...nothing. Well, not nothing, but very little. Between the car parks and the campsite was one of the flimsy building site fences...that was it. And car parks aren't exactly the hardest place to get into at festivals are they. The rest of the fencing around the site was very suspect - after reviewing the technical site map it made me realise how easy it would be to break into.

Campsites should be properly locked down areas. No-one enters or exits without the right credentials. By the sounds of things, people were pretty free to move from campsite to arena - whether they had a wristband or not. That is the worst mistake a festival can make. If people break into the campsite (which happens anywhere, Glastonbury aside maybe!) they should be contained there, then dealt with by the relevant security.

Throughout my nighttime wanderings the only security I really saw (and this is throughout most of the festival campsites, including red) was one security guard, plus young teenage girls up on the Oxfam towers. Although the athmosphere seemed very calm, if something had kicked off big scale (a la Reading riots) I'm not sure there was enough support to stop it. There may have been, I'm not sure, but after discussions with relevant security personel onsite, I'm not convinced there was.

One more point to consider - where do they get the security guards from? Are they fully trained, highly qualified, lots of experience etc? I'll let you decide. For certain though, Creamfields need a new security consultant or serious improvement if their license is to remain intact.

[Disco_Fudge]

By all accounts (and with hindsight) it does now seem like an accident waiting to happen. Compared to last year numbers semed to be down and not much checking of wristbands

[Pr1vate Piles]

certainly an interesting read. I shall certainly have my wits about me and think twice on what i take with me and what i leave. One would think though they will step up things in light of a thread like this?

[Delboy71]

Seeing as this thread has been resurrected I have to agree that the fencing was not up to scratch in 2009 when I last went. I'm sure they've used the Glastonbury fence in years gone by which is excellent at keeping peopl out. One problem is that the current site is much harder to police than the old Speke site. Let's hope there has been improvement and I know that Cream were definitely aware of this thread....

[CeeCeeLuvsDancing]

I know loads of people who have jumped the fence at Creamfields, which is proof fences and security are not up to scratch.

[VfP]

Was up at TITP this year and the fences were defo jumpable if you had some sort of of platform to push off from.Thankfully never heard of some of the horror stories which happened to yous guys.f**k c**ts just bursting in your tent tooled up like that.

Hope your friend makes a full recovery Dom,both mentally and physically.

[VfP]

Do yous get checked when going from campsite to arena? Up here we need to show a wristband and get our tickets scanned each time we go between.

[ElMau5cio]

I'm from Manchester and needless to say that I'm not a big fan of scousers. I think it's fair to say that most scousers don't go around robbing at Creamfields. However most of the robbers seem to have a scouse twang tho.

I stayed on the red camp site last year. The only trouble I saw was a group of lads jumping the fence. Them fences were absolute shite!!! The highly trained security on the red camp site looked like they couldn't fight sleep, never mind a band of mallet toting scousers!

Let's hope they sort these security issues out in and around the camp sites......

I'm upset about hearing what people have gone through as a result of some little pricks who shouldn't have been there in the first place.