Camp Triangle: A Lovely Spot To Get ROBBED!

[izcuje]

There apparently is a lot of crime in the area where we're staying, although being the skeptical person that I am, I can no longer trust a single person, especially those surrounding us at , including those who may have seen my prior posts, and figure us as easy, naive American tourists.

[GlasstoLuver]

SoCalMusicLover, may I suggest a psychiatrist?

Yes, Glastonbury was actually set up as a way to steal from you, all of us were in it.... ruining your holiday experience is 200+k people's highlight of the year! the bands were all in on it as well, even the people selling ice cream and frozen yoghurt!

Hell, even the people at Heathrow were spying on you since you arrived, that X-ray machine wasnt to check for bombs or guns, was to check how much money and valuables you were bringing, didnt you recognise the guy at immigration desk was the same guy selling burgers in one of the stalls?

Our plans of stealing and ruining your holiday experience almost came to a halt when we realised the amazing security measures you took by having a pad lock on your tent though! we almost called the festival off on Wednesday night as we could not figured it out, but one of the Wu Tang members recalled his old school days and suggested cutting it open! so we immediately raise his % of the stolen money! he got a wooping 0.1% of a penny!

Please come back again soon, this time instead of putting a lockpad outside your tent can you just get a massive neon arrow pointing at your tent? would help us out massively.

Cheers!

[mandypants]

While I feel sorry for anyone who has been robbed at a festival, this kind of attitude is unhelpful in the least. I doubt very much that anyone was singled out because they weren't UK citizens (and how would thieves know if you were or not anyway?) As for accusing everyone in CT of being thieves who target vulnerable foreigners, I'd be incredibly upset if I had camped with you guys, offered my friendship and had it thrown back at me with such accusations. I haven't camped with CT in particular, but I do camp with internet friends and always have done, they are decent people on the whole, and we all keep an eye out for each other, so one rogue wouldn't get away with it.

In the end, the thieves at festivals are opportunists. It's easy to get into a tent undetected and they are mainly after cash, but will take any other valuables they have a use for where available. Making sure that cash and valuables aren't available is your responsibility, there have been enough people posting crime prevention tips on this thread already so I won't repeat them again.

I swear by sleeping with my stuff in my sleeping bag, I have a money belt, worn under my clothes, and I just take a small amount out as I need it. My phone and camera stayed with me at all times, and I took nothing else of value. The only things you would find in my tent when I am out are my spare clothes, bedding and toiletries. The two times I have had my tent broken into, they have gone straight for my handbag, the first time they got away with £20, the second they got nothing, because my cash was stashed safely while I slept. Both times I found my bag and the rest of its contents scattered outside the tent.

I have no idea why anyone would take a passport to a festival and not put it in a safe lockup, it makes no sense to me, even if you needed ID for the bars, there are other ways of doing it without using such an important document.

[jamseyboy]

Funny this but I had a feeling that there would be more crime this year and it it sort of feels that way ( whether true or not). The MyHab ( St Michael Of Eavis Tent Reserve) area was done over on a couple of nights and to be honest I was surprised at the number of shady types ( no stripey jumpers but you know) that just walked through the Pennards gate with a wave and a I forgot my pass. The security just felt different this year....a bit I really cant be arsed.

As for the OP I can imagine how upset he was but unfortunately shit happens....I dont think it was personal. It just felt that more shit was happening than before.

[Bender]

Dude, i can't believe this threads still going on.

A major event where people bring hundreds of pounds, valuables, and get rat assed, if anyone's surprised that it's targeted by organised criminals than you need to step into reality.

Responsibility is the key here. I could point to any number of ways that would have reduced the impact of what actually happened, but the most important thing is to learn from it, rather than blame uncontrollable external events. There will be crime, maybe in a couple of years prepare for it, rather than blaming Camp T, the festival, or the UK. Shit happens to everyone, you're not special, you're not unique, it's a fact of life, but it happens less to the prepared. If you're gonna let the behaviour of some greedy individuals warp your perception of an event then you really need to think about it a bit more, and the memories and experiences you'll be depriving yourself of.

I can understand why people will argue to defend the festival, but i'm sure socal's post was an angry rant, rather than anything deeper. I understood when it went on for a few pages, but is 7 pages of socal mouthing off, and people defending glastonbury (along with a fair few unnecessary personal insults) really necessary?

My two pence: Take it under your chin, if you didn't get robbed let this be a lesson to you to be a tad more careful next time if you've been irresponsible. But just let this thread drop down and let it be a distant memory of a series of unfortunate events.

Socal, i am sorry to hear you didn't enjoy G 2011, if i see you at a future event i'll buy you a drink or something. Though i bet Camp T would have saved your Glasto (actually, i know it would have, pm me if you wanna know how). If you decide that a small group of people have ruined the festival for you then i do hope you the best of luck in whatever you go on to do

Edited July 3, 2011 by Bender

[Buff124]

We stayed at the Travelodge in Glastonbury on the Monday after the Festival.

The desk manager said they had to get the police to chuck out a bunch of lads who checked in on the Friday night, and paid cash for five rooms.

They robbed the hotel safe, tried to break into thefamily rooms, trashed all of their own rooms, kept everyone up all night, racially abused the staff, and physically threatened customers.

Perhaps they were the 'bad apples' at ?

I don't need to tell you which city in North-West England they came from.

[Micky_Luv]

I'm generally impartial to all things, but this person really does not do any favours for representing their 'supposedly' great country which already has a reputation for generally being overly arrogant, self-righteous and stuck up.

But hey ho.

[The Goo Goo Doll]

To sum it up for the OP:

- I'm very sorry for what has happened, nobody should ever be subjected to that.

- Stop moaning, no-one was physically harmed, far worse things have happened.

- CT did not set you up and you weren't targeted because you were tourists.

- Not all thieves are scousers. But all thieves are twats.

- Although you are not to blame, (as somebody said before naivety is not a crime, theft is) nobody is in the wrong for calling you stupid, fair enough the spare left over cash and mobile phone in your tent is fine but £400 and passports, that's ridiculously dumb!

- You really (I repeat REALLY) should've used the lock ups and been more careful.

- Precautions are always necessary, better to be safe than sorry.

- You're an idiot for generalising the poeple that you have. It's extremely naive and ignorant. Just like anywhere, you get the good and the bad people. You were just unlucky to have experienced the bad.

- Glastonbury is not the peaceful wonderland that some make it out to be, you get all sorts of people and sadly that includes thieves, however my guess would be that the crime rate is lower than that of the avergae city (Enlgidh or otherwise).

- Again, I'm sorry for your loss but you really need to change your tone and attitude.

[Boltzmann Brain]

And how did that go? how many chipped in?

[Boltzmann Brain]

Although we had put some of our things in lockup, we had our wallets and money with us in the tent.

[mandypants]

They could have had 3 litres of Tequila/Cointrea mix. Not being facetious but that would have solved all their problems until Monday morning.

They turned a crisis into a disaster by leaving.

[alframsey]

Upon our arrival at the site by shuttle on Wednesday, while we were waiting to get off the bus, our sleeping bags, which had been put in the storage of the bus, were stolen. This was the start of our fabulous Glastonbury experience.

We pitched our tent in . Meeting several people during those first moments. We set up, took a nap, then went out to grab something to eat and walk around for a few hours. On the way back to our tent, we purchased blankets, so we didn't freeze to death, and headed back to our tent. It was roughly midnight on Wednesday night.

Although we had put some of our things in lockup, we had our wallets and money with us in the tent. When we woke up in the morning, there was water by the entrance, and the zipper was open. We didn't think anything of it, but soon we discovered that our space had been completely violated, while we slept two feet away. Someone came into our tent, went through our clothes and one of our bags, and took 400 Pounds, our Credit Cards, ATM Cards, and my fiance's US passport. Basically what we had brought for our 3 week trip to Europe, which was to begin with a fun 5 days at Glastonbury festival.

Thursday, instead of walking around exploring, our day was spent trying to find where the police headquarters were located. 99% of the people on site, including security, that we asked, did not have any clue as to where it was. Using my brain, instead of the brains of the morons who were just happy to be on site with a free ticket, I thought perhaps it was up by the main farm. We walked that way, and finally, the last person we asked, about 5 minute walk away from the farm, knew how to direct us.

We have spent the past 2 days contacting our cards to have them cancelled, contacting the US consulate in London, to arrange an appointment to get my fiance's passport sorted, and calling the airline to get a sooner flight back home, since we were now basically broke. This has been our complete Glastonbury experience, and thankfully, our last.

There apparently is a lot of crime in the area where we're staying, although being the skeptical person that I am, I can no longer trust a single person, especially those surrounding us at , including those who may have seen my prior posts, and figure us as easy, naive American tourists.

Though this happens all over the world, it is something that I perhaps expected was rather the exception than the norm, and a place like Glastonbury, which I thought was supposed to be about Peace, Love & Music. I guess you have to add Theft to that list. The kind of theft which not only ruins your entire Glastonbury experience, but in our case, the 3 week trip we had planned and saved for. We are now returning home to California on Monday, after my fiance gets a new passport at the embassy on Monday morning. We're leaving Glastonbury first thing on Saturday morning, because we are miserable here, and seeing everyone having such a grand time, while we are cold and broke, is making us more upset. Anyways, our misfortune is not going to mean much to anyone else, and other than the occasional "we're sorry, sounds bloody awful" that we get, there has not been much assistance provided to us. Lots of run around, but no assistance of any consequence. The people at the Welfare office and the lockup, were the only ones who really, sincerely made an attempt to provide help.

I'll expand later, but right now we have to head back to our tent, before the torrential downpour expected at 4:00 arrives. My fiance had absolutely no desire to attend Glastonbury, as she had a miserable time 2 years ago. But neither I nor she, ever could have imagined this year's events, and now we Both have ZERO interest in ever visiting this SH&*HOLE again. So those of you who have trouble getting tickets, will have less competition from us foreigners in the future. I just want to get out of this country period, as quickly as possible, and never return, except if we must to fly into and out of London to elsewhere in Europe.

We will be sure to tell all of our friends and family back home about our experience in England. Thank you so much for the hospitality.

[port]

Very unfortunate what happened to you, but would you leave money, credit cards and passports in a hotel room with the door unlocked?

Glastonbury is one of the very few festivals that provide free lock ups. Why not use them? Had this happened to me and I do not use the lock ups either, but money ect' is always with me, even when sleeping, I would be more annoyed with myself for my stupidity.

most of my mates have been robbed at festivals because they take off the trousers they have had on before they go into the sleeping bit and leave them outside the sleeping compartment because they are dirty.... with money ect' still in the pockets. This is the kind of thing robbers are looking for.

sorry if I aint that sympathetic but given the facts, its basically stuff your mum would warn you about going to your first festival.

[safehands]

Very unfortunate what happened to you, but would you leave money, credit cards and passports in a hotel room with the door unlocked?

Glastonbury is one of the very few festivals that provide free lock ups. Why not use them? Had this happened to me and I do not use the lock ups either, but money ect' is always with me, even when sleeping, I would be more annoyed with myself for my stupidity.

most of my mates have been robbed at festivals because they take off the trousers they have had on before they go into the sleeping bit and leave them outside the sleeping compartment because they are dirty.... with money ect' still in the pockets. This is the kind of thing robbers are looking for.

sorry if I aint that sympathetic but given the facts, its basically stuff your mum would warn you about going to your first festival.

[herzzreh]

I camped near a bunch of efest people, not sure if it was CT proper but... nothing happened to us (I do suspect I may have some smokes stolen, but I might as well just smoked them, I really can't figure it out in the drunken 5 day haze I was in). You really should not crap on the festival or even worse, the whole country. I did not write off whole California considering that the only time I had stuff stolen from my car was in San Diego, and neither should you.

[Jie Bie]

- You really (I repeat REALLY) should've used the lock ups and been more careful.

Edited July 4, 2011 by Jie Bie

[russycarps]

I always thought there was something shifty about that gang of drunks

[Wooderson]

I always thought there was something shifty about that gang of drunks

[The Goo Goo Doll]

He did use the lockups, although he hasn't revealed what he stored in there or why he decided against putting their passports and cash there.

[rottencrotch]

Heard lots and lots of horror stories surround theft and general w*nkery at Pennard Hill when I was on shift at the lock up.

Have to say, the lock up was MUCH quieter than previous years - I was really surprised!

[dingbat2]

I have been to Glasto for a few years and have never experienced any trouble at all, we have not camped in Pennards before because by the time we get there the site is already 95% full, so we end up in Pylon Ground, Wicket Ground, etc.

We always take 'man bags' with us wherever we go, to put the valuables in (beer, camera, cash, tickets ,beer, keys, beer, etc) and leave the tent open. If anyone wants to rummge through my crusty cacks then they are more than welcome to - the last laugh is on me knowing some scumbag has dirtied themselves on my solied and sweaty undergarments.

The golden rule is buy cheap clothes/sleeping bags and take only stuff you wouldnt be too bothered about losing or getting dirty

If they want to nick anything else then they can, its saves me from carrying it back to the car, and will be sweaty and stinky anyway

Scumbags

[Spindles]

My view exactly. Anyone who wants to root through a bag of my socks and pants is NOT going to be leaving richer, they might feel a bit poorly though.

+1 to leaving tent unzipped and in a state, best deterrent in the world and it helps your tent air. Useless in the rain, mind.

[Miss_Boo]

I camped in Pennards and had several groups of friends all camped in different sections of Pennards. Nobody that I know of experienced any form of theft (granted we weren't in CT, more towards the back where the Tipi's are). My tent was so messy though I wouldn't actually know if someone had been in there

Ditto what everyone else is saying though. Sucks to be robbed, but keeping your valuables either on your person or in the lock up is the first basic rule of travelling, let along travelling to a festival!

[verrymerry]

One year someone said to me "make your tent look like it's been robbed, then hopefully no one else will bother". My and my boyfriend looked in the tent, looked at each other and just laughed, no need to even try, it was a f**king mess already!

[loubelou]

One year someone said to me "make your tent look like it's been robbed, then hopefully no one else will bother". My and my boyfriend looked in the tent, looked at each other and just laughed, no need to even try, it was a f**king mess already!