Will Coronavirus lead to the cancellation of Glastonbury?

[Brianae]

So my work just told us today we will be moving to a split workplace from Wednesday. So 50% of the office will work from home or disaster recovery sites and 50% will work in the office for two weeks then we will rotate and continue to do so for likely the next few months as a precaution. 

Feels like they are either not telling us something or this is a massive over reaction

 

 

[stuartbert two hats]

46 minutes ago, Ddiamondd said:

Ah no you’ve got this all mixed up. It’s an a not an e for the final vowel, and n instead of m. Easy mistake to make, they are right next to each other in the alphabet after all.

u wot m8? lan?

[stuartbert two hats]

1 minute ago, Ddiamondd said:

Ian Punta Del Rey, virtuoso behind 2019's album of the year Cumberland F*cking Sausage

I think one of us has accidentally dropped a load of acid this morning.

[stuartbert two hats]

1 minute ago, Ddiamondd said:

Just a little headcold, fever and hacking cough, nothing to worry about.

Not a dry cough then?

[Mackem]

49 minutes ago, Brianae said:

So my work just told us today we will be moving to a split workplace from Wednesday. So 50% of the office will work from home or disaster recovery sites and 50% will work in the office for two weeks then we will rotate and continue to do so for likely the next few months as a precaution. 

Friend of mine's daughter works at UBS who sent half of their trading floor to their Hounslow office. The evacuees were furious - apparently the only place to eat nearby was McDonalds and one of them got mugged first day for his trainers 😳

[Sasperella]

54 minutes ago, Brianae said:

So my work just told us today we will be moving to a split workplace from Wednesday. So 50% of the office will work from home or disaster recovery sites and 50% will work in the office for two weeks then we will rotate and continue to do so for likely the next few months as a precaution. 

Feels like they are either not telling us something or this is a massive over reaction

This seems a bit mad to me. I they hoping that this way, only half of their staff can be out of action? 

[Mackem]

I've been thinking about timing of any cancellation. I'd expect most people who already have tickets would - in the event of cancellation - be happy to be told the ticket is valid for next year, GF would wait until at least after the balances have been paid off before cancelling. They'd then have the cash to pay off any costs already incurred. God knows what happens next year when that cash has run out but at least they'd not have an immediate cashflow problem.

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

5 minutes ago, Sasperella said:

This seems a bit mad to me. I they hoping that this way, only half of their staff can be out of action? 

I can understand businesses taking any such measures they feel necessary at this stage, however over the top or strange they may seem. If just one employee of any company gets it then that would likely lead to all their employees needing to self isolate.

[BlackZeppelin]

3 minutes ago, Mackem said:

I've been thinking about timing of any cancellation. I'd expect most people who already have tickets would - in the event of cancellation - be happy to be told the ticket is valid for next year, GF would wait until at least after the balances have been paid off before cancelling. They'd then have the cash to pay off any costs already incurred. God knows what happens next year when that cash has run out but at least they'd not have an immediate cashflow problem.

Had similar thoughts. 

Would be worth collecting the full payments, cancelling if absolutely necessary, and offering those that wish to hold their tickets over to 2021. (And naturally fully refunding those that dont). 

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

10 minutes ago, Mackem said:

I've been thinking about timing of any cancellation. I'd expect most people who already have tickets would - in the event of cancellation - be happy to be told the ticket is valid for next year, GF would wait until at least after the balances have been paid off before cancelling. They'd then have the cash to pay off any costs already incurred. God knows what happens next year when that cash has run out but at least they'd not have an immediate cashflow problem.

Probably have to factor in any insurance cover they have. Highly unlikely their insurance cover would pay out if they themselves decide to cancel... I mean that’s effectively a scam isn’t it, take out cover for something, then deliberately claim for it. So it would likely need to be cancelled by the government to pay out. They then in theory wouldn’t need our balance payments so I reckon it would be a straight refund and back to square one for next year.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Deaf Nobby Burton

[Brianae]

42 minutes ago, Mackem said:

Friend of mine's daughter works at UBS who sent half of their trading floor to their Hounslow office. The evacuees were furious - apparently the only place to eat nearby was McDonalds and one of them got mugged first day for his trainers 😳

That sounds horrible. Lucky for me it just means I'll have a 30 second commute from my bed to my computer. Just might go a bit stir crazy 

[Mr.Tease]

48 minutes ago, Mackem said:

I've been thinking about timing of any cancellation. I'd expect most people who already have tickets would - in the event of cancellation - be happy to be told the ticket is valid for next year, GF would wait until at least after the balances have been paid off before cancelling. They'd then have the cash to pay off any costs already incurred. God knows what happens next year when that cash has run out but at least they'd not have an immediate cashflow problem.

Doesn't the festival form a different company each year for tax purposes? Would holding deposits for a year mess with that? 

[FakeEmpire]

Cancelling it would be an absolute nonsense.  If they're cancelling Glastonbury then they're cancelling all similar events - festivals, gigs, sporting events etc.   It would be a disaster for the UK economy in Summer.  Surely things would have to be seriously bad for that to happen and all the science points to that not being the case.

[Mackem]

1 hour ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

Probably have to factor in any insurance cover they have. Highly unlikely their insurance cover would pay out if they themselves decide to cancel... I mean that’s effectively a scam isn’t it, take out cover for something, then deliberately claim for it. So it would likely need to be cancelled by the government to pay out. They then in theory wouldn’t need our balance payments so I reckon it would be a straight refund and back to square one for next year.

Not if Neil's right and pandemics are excluded from cover.

[Mackem]

42 minutes ago, Brianae said:

That sounds horrible. Lucky for me it just means I'll have a 30 second commute from my bed to my computer. Just might go a bit stir crazy 

Yeah my daughter's company (music publisher) have asked everyone to work from home tomorrow and Wednesday as a try out for if the office has to close later on. She's quite excited but I cannot see how it'll work - the business if all about contacts, collars and writing sessions etc. But needs must I guess.

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

8 minutes ago, Mackem said:

Not if Neil's right and pandemics are excluded from cover.

Pandemics aren’t necessarily excluded from cover, SXSW just didn’t have it in their cover. That may have been an oversight on their part, or just an attempt to cut costs, not an indication that insurance companies don’t cover them full stop.

No doubt there will be a few more festivals that come out of the woodwork that don’t have it in their cover, but I’d be pretty shocked if a festival of Glastonbury’s size and scale wasn’t covered for it.

Glastonbury is pretty unique, realistically if they are going to have cover for cancellation there are only going to be so many things that would cause it to be cancelled, it’s going to have to be something serious and there aren’t that many series things that could bring it down, aside from maybe extreme weather, terrorism, or a pandemic like this. So I'd be very surprised if they didn’t have all the bases covered seeing as there aren’t that many of them in the first place.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Deaf Nobby Burton

[assorted]

29 minutes ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

Pandemics aren’t necessarily excluded from cover, SXSW just didn’t have it in their cover. That may have been an oversight on their part, or just an attempt to cut costs, not an indication that insurance companies don’t cover them full stop.

 

What is your source on this? 

[Matt42]

Highly highly doubt tickets would be carried over to next year

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

4 minutes ago, assorted said:

What is your source on this? 

@eFestivals stated it in another thread or on this thread somewhere 

[CJTM]

26 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Highly highly doubt tickets would be carried over to next year

why?

[stuie]

7 minutes ago, CJTM said:

why?

Because that's about £7M of income that would become taxable in the wrong financial year.

 

[CJTM]

1 minute ago, stuie said:

Because that's about £7M of income that would become taxable in the wrong financial year.

 

I meant if the deposits were not paid?

[Lycra]

2 hours ago, Mackem said:

I've been thinking about timing of any cancellation. I'd expect most people who already have tickets would - in the event of cancellation - be happy to be told the ticket is valid for next year, GF would wait until at least after the balances have been paid off before cancelling. They'd then have the cash to pay off any costs already incurred. God knows what happens next year when that cash has run out but at least they'd not have an immediate cashflow problem.

Under consumer law nobody actually has a ticket yet. Peeps to date have put down a deposit which can be viewed as an "option to buy". The ticket only becomes yours when full payment has been made. It's like putting a deposit down on a house or a car. 

Also under consumer law, if an event is cancelled the promoter must offer a refund but is not liable for any ancillary costs such as booking fees, coach fares etc. If the event is postponed the promoter can offer a new ticket for the rearranged event but also has to offer a refund for those unable to attend on the new date.

If Glasto is forced to cancel, rolling over tickets to 2021 may seem a simple solution, though in practise  it could raise significant issues. For example,  not all balance holders may wish to attend in 2021, some have already paid out £££ to the fest for coach tickets, campervan passes, worthy view etc, insurances and accounting.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Lycra

[squirrelarmy]

2 minutes ago, CJTM said:

I meant if the deposits were not paid?

That 7 million is the deposit money they already have. 

[CJTM]

4 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

That 7 million is the deposit money they already have. 

OK send the money back sure, but what would stop them offering 2020 deposit bookers a first shot at 2021?