New security measures in place

[eFestivals]

my kid got searched 5 times - 4 times on the way in, and once on the way out.

So I want to take him with me again, cos he was a great decoy.

[waterfalls212434]

Gate A was fine, bus got in about 8am and I was inside the fest within about 30 mins-45 mins at most. the `search` consisted of as I walked past the security table with bag on my back being told to turn around...quick pat of the big bag, and onwards....No worrys. Certainly nothing like the horror stories heard of other gates! Bus travel is the way forward folks!

[CaledonianGonzo]

I got body scanned by an airport-style full body scanner at PGA.

[Simo71]

10 hours ago, jonodillieono said:

Friends brother and his mates where camped literally the other side of the path to us in bushy.

Security turn up 5 minutes after they get back from getting breakfast and start to mention how they've had a reliable tip off that they're carrying a large amount of counterfeit money and that the police are on their way to search them.

5 minutes later 2 jeeps turn up and all of a sudden there's about 7 police and 4 security here to search these 4 young lads. They go through every inch of their tents, make them take their socks off and search them and search all pockets. Prettt much the only place they didn't check was their underwear.

Obviously they didn't find any counterfeit money as they didn't have any but they found a very small amount of powder which one of the jobsworths insisted was enough to get them thrown out.

So they get escorted over to the main security office to speak to the head of security and he lets them go saying the security are being stupid wanting to kick them out for having such a tiny amount and then went on to say how he's seen nothing but scousers all day and the security are clearly discriminating against them.

Bit silly really, like apparently they were stalked back to the tents by these security guards for 30 minutes. Where this 'tip' come from we don't know but it's ridiculous

Was this about 11am on Thursday morning? Fairly sure I saw this and mentioned how over the top it was at the time.

 

As a separate incident I saw a lad getting escorted out by two security guards, when he bolted and sprinted off from them, there was a small cheer from the crowd as security realised they couldn't catch him, made me laugh.

[EighteenSixty7]

Gate A. No search, just went through a separate lane with my trolley.

[iamstreety]

We were going in via Gate A and missed out on a sniffer dog search by about 5m. All the people in front had to take their backpacks off while the dog went round. At the Gate entrance, we experienced minimal searching. Not sure whether the security were more lenient with everyone being stood in the sun for hours. Only time I was searched was on reentry on the Sunday and the lady just went through my bumbag. 

[Drfoxxx]

Don't know any of my group who got a proper search. Pat down on the bag going into the Gate D at 2am. But just walked straight in for 7.30am Wednesday, surprisingly easy! 

Edited June 27, 2017 by Drfoxxx

[frostypaw]

On 2017-6-24 at 0:22 PM, Upside down frowner said:

East camper van fields- no search coming in Wednesday.

Came through PGC twice a day weds/thurs- no search at all.

Friday morning- no search.

Exiting after radiohead, complete search, bag/pockets/clothing/phone/test cards for powered. Torch up nostrils and in eyes from the doctor* who declared "he's definitely had something but it ain't coke". Threaten with ticket being ripped up.

it didnt matter as I kept answering I didn't have anything. Weirdly I re entered after getting some alcohol and wasn't searched!

Saw some lads being taxed early in the morning when we exited again.

 

*security guard 

I'm actually pretty fucking pissed off about the search situation and I think there needs to be some proper questions asked.

SO in theory this was meant to be to protect us from terrorism but the friendly security guy I questioned said they'd been told to hunt very specifically for drugs - to check all the small places, to find washbags and other storage places and to demand prescriptions and evidence for any pills they'd found etc.

No explosives dogs... no skipping such fine detail checking to ensure they can check everyone for knives/weapons - nope it's having doctors on hand to check your pupils and scouring every corner.

This whole terrorist thing has been BULLSHIT and they've used people's deaths to massively ramp up the drugs searching. It's about the least Glastonbury thing I've ever experienced at the festival and by the time even the security staff on the ground are crying bullshit and just refusing to do the searches you know it's gone too far.

[little_jim]

Our group arrived about 14:00ish in PGA and walked right through. We had the 10ish minutes letting people through but no bag search nothing. I was dreading the full search all the way up, but happy they were taking these steps to keep us safe but for all four of us to walk right through was somewhat a relief.

[Jon who was I]

Got the impression they knew they could never search everyone so deliberately targeted everyone queuing overnight with thorough searches knowing word would soon spread via social media.

By the time i went through at 2pm all the search tables were empty. Guess they didn't want to hold the queue up too much in the sun and were catching up on some sleep instead.

Edited June 27, 2017 by I am Jon

[eFestivals]

15 minutes ago, frostypaw said:

I'm actually pretty fucking pissed off about the search situation and I think there needs to be some proper questions asked.

Why? 

Making a thing about the security not really being much extra will only ensure that it is tight next time when it doesn't need to be.

All the stuff beforehand was about creating an impression that would help ensure nothing bad happened.

I really REALLY hope that people don't make a thing about it. It can only end up being a bad thing.

[mufcok]

Nothing for me. Gate A about 11, had a laugh with me. Patted the side of my bag twice then I just walked off. Much a fuss about nothing

[frostypaw]

6 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

Why? 

Making a thing about the security not really being much extra will only ensure that it is tight next time when it doesn't need to be.

All the stuff beforehand was about creating an impression that would help ensure nothing bad happened.

I really REALLY hope that people don't make a thing about it. It can only end up being a bad thing.

I'm not making a thing about the security not really being much extra? Was this a reply to someone else?

To me it was ridiculously misplaced - I'm all up for creating that impression, I think there should have been dogs and most importantly I think there should have been less insanely detailed searching so there was time to check every bag for weapons and glass

If anything the stupid situation where they're alternating between insanely detailed checks then nothing makes the situation far far worse as there's no way they can do that sort of detail on everyone so there's always chances of getting past them. Surely some sense of balance so they CAN check every backpack quickly is the win we all want here?

[Bubblecup]

I was in and out of PGB at least 1xday and security were checking anything larger than a packpack, also stewards were being pretty hot with wristband checking and making people remove hat and glasses to check against punter tickets even on re-entry.  There were explosives dogs sweeping the whole backstage pyramid and other every morning, not sure if they went elsewhere too.

The security at the gates were polite and humorous and I didn't witness any issues, its a shame others did 

Edited June 27, 2017 by Bubblecup

[M_Il]

15 minutes ago, frostypaw said:

I'm not making a thing about the security not really being much extra? Was this a reply to someone else?

To me it was ridiculously misplaced - I'm all up for creating that impression, I think there should have been dogs and most importantly I think there should have been less insanely detailed searching so there was time to check every bag for weapons and glass

If anything the stupid situation where they're alternating between insanely detailed checks then nothing makes the situation far far worse as there's no way they can do that sort of detail on everyone so there's always chances of getting past them. Surely some sense of balance so they CAN check every backpack quickly is the win we all want here?

They had an explosives dog just before PGA about 9am on Wed

[paulshane]

I was in the East camper queue at about 9:30ish and was stopped to have the caravan searched when the searcher received an announcement to stop searching vans, so they waved me through.

went in and out of the site multiple times a day, never got picked.

 

the only time I spoke to security was on leaving when one of the guys in East flagged me down to check if my folding caravan was secured properly as it was flapping about a bit. I explained it just does that as it's old

 

However, I did see a lot of people getting searched at gate C, even on sunday evening, so they were pulling people over to check bags.,

[eFestivals]

35 minutes ago, frostypaw said:

I'm not making a thing about the security not really being much extra? Was this a reply to someone else?

To me it was ridiculously misplaced - I'm all up for creating that impression, I think there should have been dogs and most importantly I think there should have been less insanely detailed searching so there was time to check every bag for weapons and glass

If anything the stupid situation where they're alternating between insanely detailed checks then nothing makes the situation far far worse as there's no way they can do that sort of detail on everyone so there's always chances of getting past them. Surely some sense of balance so they CAN check every backpack quickly is the win we all want here?

Me, I'm glad as fuck there wasn't dogs or anything else that was completely over the top and unnecessary.

I saw nothing much different at Gate C (every day, not just once) to every other time I've been thru Gate C over many years - apart from the searches being less-drug-thorough than they would have been in the past, precisely so they could get thru more people and be looking for terrorist stuff.

My son was searched 5 times but never thoroughly. My daughter was searched once, again not thoroughly. My son was pissed off at being targeted, but apart from that there's nowt to complain about from me of the actual searching.

I don't think they'd be any balance to checking every bag, plus it would be utterly-stupidly-impossible (imagine every tent unpacked for every entrant, and every beer can somehow checked that it hadn't been altered!).

Also, if they were checking every bag I'd not be returning, and I'd be hoisting the ISIS flag as they'd have obviously won.

Don't let them change you. Don't let them change the festival either!

Edited June 27, 2017 by eFestivals

[DeanoL]

32 minutes ago, frostypaw said:

I'm not making a thing about the security not really being much extra? Was this a reply to someone else?

To me it was ridiculously misplaced - I'm all up for creating that impression, I think there should have been dogs and most importantly I think there should have been less insanely detailed searching so there was time to check every bag for weapons and glass

If anything the stupid situation where they're alternating between insanely detailed checks then nothing makes the situation far far worse as there's no way they can do that sort of detail on everyone so there's always chances of getting past them. Surely some sense of balance so they CAN check every backpack quickly is the win we all want here?

The problem is, the need to protect from terrorism doesn't reduce the festival's obligation to take steps to prevent drug taking. I know we would all like to see security ignore drugs entirely, but that can't happen. There are rules the festival have to follow. The amount of searching for drugs this year was never going to be less than in previous years. Any additional searching for bombs/knives etc. was always going to have to be on top of that.

[frostypaw]

9 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

The problem is, the need to protect from terrorism doesn't reduce the festival's obligation to take steps to prevent drug taking. I know we would all like to see security ignore drugs entirely, but that can't happen. There are rules the festival have to follow. The amount of searching for drugs this year was never going to be less than in previous years. Any additional searching for bombs/knives etc. was always going to have to be on top of that.

I'm not sure people are getting what I meant to be saying from these responses so I'm going to try again because this response is to utterly NOT what I'm asking for.

 

The drug searching was far more intense, which ruined the opportunity for better searching for bombs/knives and meant more people got through with no check at all. I've not been suggesting unpacking every tent, nor doing no checking for drugs. Say typically it would have been 20 out of a 100 get a rough check over for drugs/glass etc and there'd only be a few security at the gates. Now having more security but only checking 10 people ultra thoroughly for drugs then letting in the next 90 with zero check whatsoever is not a win compared to checking 50 out of that hundred for weapons/explosives.

Edited June 27, 2017 by frostypaw

[eFestivals]

13 minutes ago, frostypaw said:

The drug searching was far more intense

it very definitely wasn't at Gate C on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

[frostypaw]

2 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

it very definitely wasn't at Gate C on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

That's fine, I'm telling you what the security I talked to were told to do, not relating individual experiences. The plural of anecdote is not data etc

If anything the fact that your individual experiences ended up like that only reinforce the silliness of what they tried to do.

[Dave_c]

I just got a pat down and asked if I had any sharps or glass. Sounds like the searches were random as I walked past a camp in pennard hill and the guy was using a saw to cut up wood for a campfire. A fucking saw!! And someone got a bottle of deodorant confiscated!

Saw one bloke on Saturday at other stage getting patted down and bag searched by 2 policemen.

[DeanoL]

1 hour ago, frostypaw said:

The drug searching was far more intense.

More intense than when? Last year? There have always been intense drug searches, I don't believe the level of searching was any more intense (short of strip-searching it couldn't have been) - they might have been doing more of those searches but we've seen no actual evidence for that.

Quote

 

Say typically it would have been 20 out of a 100 get a rough check over for drugs/glass etc and there'd only be a few security at the gates. Now having more security but only checking 10 people ultra thoroughly for drugs then letting in the next 90 with zero check whatsoever is not a win compared to checking 50 out of that hundred for weapons/explosives.

 

Those 10 out of 100 have always been thoroughly checked for drugs though. There were more people getting pat-downs this year for sure, but there have always been full checks. If you've avoided them up to now that's just luck.

1 hour ago, frostypaw said:

That's fine, I'm telling you what the security I talked to were told to do,

Had they been told to be more intense than last year? Or they'd just been told to check for drugs? Like they are every year?

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

Arrived Wednesday lunchtime and came in and out of gate C every day with an relatively large day bag. In and out of the gate straightaway and not one search the whole time l. The only difference I noticed seemed to be more thorough checks of the ticket each day.

[jonodillieono]

3 hours ago, Simo71 said:

Was this about 11am on Thursday morning? Fairly sure I saw this and mentioned how over the top it was at the time.

 

As a separate incident I saw a lad getting escorted out by two security guards, when he bolted and sprinted off from them, there was a small cheer from the crowd as security realised they couldn't catch him, made me laugh.

Yeah that was them, just so confusing where the idea that they have counterfeit money comes from