campervan - getting on and off shambles

[Jamie D]

1 hour ago, paulfoel said:

Eavis makes millions out of the deal - spend a few quid on sorting out the campervan fields.

Eavis pays himself about 50k. Every last penny of profit goes to charity to help people far less fortunate than us to do things like drink water. So yeah, maybe Eavis should have told kids drinking dirty water in Africa to forget it as Paul Foel needs his caravan towing.

[fred quimby]

Aww, just seen a few more of Pauls posts from today, he isn't have a good comedown is he

[gorfield]

it WAS a shambles - we queued from 5am until 12 for a tractor to get us out of there.. and the queue behind us was massive

all they needed was to have put some tracks down and most people could have got out.

[Spindles]

26 minutes ago, The Nal said:

There was a delay getting on and off site this year. Like any other year. Boo hoo.

This.  It's Glastonbury, every year there are things sent to try us.  What do we do?  We adapt and overcome, as we should in all aspects of life, unless we are coddled and weak and unable to take responsibility for ourselves.

I hang around on a Monday to let the masses leave, enjoy a cuppa or 3 and a chat with campers and then head out comfortably when the ground has been well packed down.  Just like with leaving a headliner, if you rush to get out the moment the set finishes you can expect to be caught in a crush, if you chill for 10 mins and take in the view you walk out in comfort.

Edited July 1, 2016 by Spindles

[fred quimby]

5 minutes ago, gorfield said:

 

all they needed was to have put some tracks down and most people could have got out.

Wow I bet they never even thought about that one *rolls eyes*

[gorfield]

ok.. so they did think of it but just couldn't be arsed??

[fred quimby]

or, from what someone was saying on here. a lot of track was under the mud at Download. No time to order in and get it all delivered, required else where or lots of other reasons. but if you want to think they can't be arsed then that is up to you.

Bet you were very glad you were not where i was. Behind T&C - trying to get performers out where the tractors were getting stuck

[Funkyfairy!]

55 minutes ago, fred quimby said:

Wait a minute. That has given me an idea for a series of kids novels I could write

I love Lemony Snickets

 

3 minutes ago, fred quimby said:

or, from what someone was saying on here. a lot of track was under the mud at Download. No time to order in and get it all delivered, required else where or lots of other reasons. but if you want to think they can't be arsed then that is up to you.

Bet you were very glad you were not where i was. Behind T&C - trying to get performers out where the tractors were getting stuck

And Theatre and Circus (apart from JohnPeel for music) is my favourite place, some of the acts this year were incredible. The two men doing arial silks/dancing were amazing / emotional and beautiful. Must be an amazing place to work ... I've always wanted to run away and join the circus, I just have no skills to bring to one lol !

[fred quimby]

28 minutes ago, Funkyfairy! said:

 

 

And Theatre and Circus (apart from JohnPeel for music) is my favourite place, some of the acts this year were incredible.

Yea is one of the best parts of the festival. show some great acts this year

[Swine_Glasto2014]

Unbelievable. . 

Most of East CV are Sheep fields and are worked the whole year round. What do people expect?

There was absolutely nothing the organizers could of done. Mother nature dealt us ALL a nasty blow but we lived, we partied and we left. Unfortunately its people like yourself who will ultimately serve the Festival its death sentence. 

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

I'm going to play devils advocate a bit here...

The rain and the conditions absolutely could not be helped, that is a fact, but I do believe the festivals communication could have been infinitely better.

Its clear and understandable (as a business) that everything they say has a PR angle, but if they had forgotten PR for one second and communicated honestly it would have been a lot better.

For example, they initially said don't leave if you haven't already etc, they then said leave everything is fine, there will be queues but you will get in. we took that as gospel and left at 2:30pm, we queued al the way to blue gate until 10pm when they closed it and turned everyone away for the night, so it wasn't fine and everyone didn't get in.

Also not once did the festival say they were having to tow every vehicle in individually, that information was flying about third hand. If they had just been honest and said that was the case people would have understood the situation a lot more.

Finally listening to worthy fm on the early hours of Thursday on my second attempt to access the field, they kept advising the traffic was still bad due to "slow moving campervans" although technically true, it seemed like they were just trying to shift the blame to campervans rather than actually explain why the campervans were slow moving i.e. they are being towed in one by one. Its very similar to their stupid tweet about 1000 people more being in the festival compared to the same time last year, its almost an attempt to put the blame on everybody waiting rather than explain the reasons why.

It also didn't help that NONE of the stewards knew what was happening and many of them just told down right lies.

So all I would say is that had been less concerned with achieving positive PR at all costs and maintaining an illusion that everything was absolutely fine and just been honest it would have been a lot better.

Edit: At one point they also confirmed that CV east was closed in a bid to scare people away, some of the stewards reconfirmed this when you tried to drive in but others didn't and in fact it was actually open and you could still get in. Again, bad communication.

 

Edited July 1, 2016 by Deaf Nobby Burton

[LowerMead]

2 hours ago, ivan said:

For a start its not the premier festival in the world - Its big and famous yes like my beloved Newcastle United but you would not call them premier.  I would say Coachella or the new one with Roger Waters , The Who, Stones, Bob and Neil Young is the premier one.  You would not get your van stuck in there in mud I can assure you

Pfft ... I camped at Coachella 2008, 2009 and 2010 and stopped going because it's a) full of LA posers who are there just to be seen, nothing about the music, and b ) their totally draconian alcohol laws - only allowed to drink in designated beer gardens at the back of the field. It's a piss poor fake attempt of a festival for try-hards.  I'll take a bit of mud and some freedom, thanks all the same.   

Edited July 1, 2016 by LowerMead

[504329lt]

No one can help the rain and not surprised it was difficult getting out.

But the issues getting in lie with the festival and especially the campsite manager in East who decided that campervans would not be allowed in until 6pm.   

I was on site and in the fields at 8am on Tuesday with a handful of other vans.  The field were then closed until 6pm.

• I can see no good reason for this.  Some of the fields were wet but they were no drier 10 hours later.  Standing water on impermeable saturated ground and long grass does not just dry out.
• Rain was forecast Tuesday evening so chance of conditions getting worse.  And getting dark.  
• Website claimed that fields / access were being improved; hence delay in opening.  This is a lie.  There was no attempt to improve access and boggy tracks were still boggy after they opened.  All I saw was marshalls sitting around talking
• Result was huge tailbacks with some people waiting 24 hours to get in and resulting delays to people in carparks.  The whole point of opening campervan fields a day early is to prevent this.
• Others were taken to Bath and Somerset Showground and had to be bussed in.

 

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

4 minutes ago, 504329lt said:

No one can help the rain and not surprised it was difficult getting out.

But the issues getting in lie with the festival and especially the campsite manager in East who decided that campervans would not be allowed in until 6pm.   

I was on site and in the fields at 8am on Tuesday with a handful of other vans.  The field were then closed until 6pm.

• I can see no good reason for this.  Some of the fields were wet but they were no drier 10 hours later.  Standing water on impermeable saturated ground and long grass does not just dry out.
• Rain was forecast Tuesday evening so chance of conditions getting worse.  And getting dark.  
• Website claimed that fields / access were being improved; hence delay in opening.  This is a lie.  There was no attempt to improve access and boggy tracks were still boggy after they opened.  All I saw was marshalls sitting around talking
• Result was huge tailbacks with some people waiting 24 hours to get in and resulting delays to people in carparks.  The whole point of opening campervan fields a day early is to prevent this.
• Others were taken to Bath and Somerset Showground and had to be bussed in.

 

This as well, 100% I saw it suggested somewhere that the police are the ones that made them open the field at 6pm. I do not believe this for one second, why on earth would the police suggest entry be moved to rush hour just before it gets dark? It was simply an ill advised move by the festival which went a long way to contributing to the issues that affected everybody the next day.

[ivan]

I have just thought

1997 - Horrendous apparently (  I was not there but its always mentioned)

2007 - Very bad , I was there but did not blame Glasto

2017 - OOOOh !

 

[bsolxiv]

Why not move camper vans to bath and west show ground then lay on daily coaches, could then use the camper van fields for closer car parks.

[Rumblestripe]

2 hours ago, ivan said:

big and famous yes like my beloved Newcastle United

Ah the dear deluded of tyneside, how we miss you in the Premier League

Sorry but you Gerodies do yourselves no favours at times.

On the subject of Campervans and Caravans. Not very green are they? Ban 'em. Replace with pre-erected tents of differing specifications/prices and/or (as suggested above) outhouse then to another location with full hookup facilities and run a shuttle bus.

[504329lt]

3 hours ago, Rumblestripe said:

Ah the dear deluded of tyneside, how we miss you in the Premier League

Sorry but you Gerodies do yourselves no favours at times.

On the subject of Campervans and Caravans. Not very green are they? Ban 'em. Replace with pre-erected tents of differing specifications/prices and/or (as suggested above) outhouse then to another location with full hookup facilities and run a shuttle bus.

How are they any less 'green' than cars?  Majority have 4 or more people.  Very few leave tents or other shit behind.

[bsolxiv]

50 minutes ago, 504329lt said:

How are they any less 'green' than cars?  Majority have 4 or more people.  Very few leave tents or other shit behind.

So they spunk fuel out for the entire journey. Where's your evidence for 4 or more people? I would wager the occupancy the same as cars.

[bsolxiv]

Not too green

[EasyUserName]

52 minutes ago, 504329lt said:

How are they any less 'green' than cars?  Majority have 4 or more people.  Very few leave tents or other shit behind.

Someone left behind a whole (trashed) trailer tent in my field.  It wasn't *that* bad (that I cursed lacking a tow bar) - but a trailer tent is quite a bit more impressive than some tents.

[Swine_Glasto2014]

5 hours ago, bsolxiv said:

Why not move camper vans to bath and west show ground then lay on daily coaches, could then use the camper van fields for closer car parks.

Erm no thanks.

[ink1ing]

Could be worse.  At least you all got out. 

I've been down to the site today and it's chaos.  Tried to rescue my friends caravan in Shangri-la crew camping and I couldn't even get close to it. I've got a decent 4x4 and mud tires but the ground is really churned up and everyone is being towed out by tractors. Had to wait 45 mins while a guy who had slipped and dislocated his hip in the mud was rescued. Lots of muddy churned up areas all over the site making everything harder work for the crew packing down. 

[504329lt]

1 hour ago, bsolxiv said:

So they spunk fuel out for the entire journey. Where's your evidence for 4 or more people? I would wager the occupancy the same as cars.

And cars don't use fuel?  

[Ohinever]

6 hours ago, Funkyfairy! said:

I love Lemony Snickets

 

And Theatre and Circus (apart from JohnPeel for music) is my favourite place, some of the acts this year were incredible. The two men doing arial silks/dancing were amazing / emotional and beautiful. Must be an amazing place to work ... I've always wanted to run away and join the circus, I just have no skills to bring to one lol !

Random fact: My Grandad did run away from home and join the circus to become a clown. He did ok - he became the ring boy for Coco!