PGA's 2025 Queuing Disaster

[kalifire]

I mentioned this in the PGA thread, but thought I'd make a dedicated thread on the off chance it catches the eye of any festival staff who might be browsing.

 

So as most know, there are two 'sides' to PGA. The side where people who arrive by car queue (and often the overflow from PGD), and the side for arrivals via shuttle (from Castle Cary or the Bath and West Showground) and See/National Express coaches. Depending on how you arrive, you're going to queue on one side or the other. 

 

However, until some point around 5:30-6am, everyone who arrived by shuttle or coach were sent to the back of the driver's side queue. We had to walk past the empty lanes clearly signposted for shuttles and coaches, as stewards insisted the correct queue for shuttle/coach arrivals was the one with thousands of drivers already waiting.

 

In practice, what that meant was there was absolutely no advantage to arriving by public transport and in fact, a significant disadvantage until the stewarding team eventually figured out that the regular public transport queues were empty. Those of us used to going through the gates shortly after 8am had to wait hours longer.

 

It was a pretty miserable start to the festival and it felt like the stewards had f**ked up badly. Was anyone else affected?

[-TLR-]

6 minutes ago, kalifire said:

I mentioned this in the PGA thread, but thought I'd make a dedicated thread on the off chance it catches the eye of any festival staff who might be browsing.

 

So as most know, there are two 'sides' to PGA. The side where people who arrive by car queue (and often the overflow from PGD), and the side for arrivals via shuttle (from Castle Cary or the Bath and West Showground) and See/National Express coaches. Depending on how you arrive, you're going to queue on one side or the other. 

 

However, until some point around 5:30-6am, everyone who arrived by shuttle or coach were sent to the back of the driver's side queue. We had to walk past the empty lanes clearly signposted for shuttles and coaches, as stewards insisted the correct queue for shuttle/coach arrivals was the one with thousands of drivers already waiting.

 

In practice, what that meant was there was absolutely no advantage to arriving by public transport and in fact, a significant disadvantage until the stewarding team eventually figured out that the regular public transport queues were empty. Those of us used to going through the gates shortly after 8am had to wait hours longer.

 

It was a pretty miserable start to the festival and it felt like the stewards had f**ked up badly. Was anyone else affected?

 

our usual arrival is to get the 1am coach out of Victoria, get to site around 4.30ish and then we are, generally, pretty close to the front of the queue on the, as you say, coach side of PGA.

 

so are you saying that if i had been fortunate enough to have gotten a ticket this year - then when getting off the coach at 4.30 i would have had to go right round the other side and join the end of the car park queue?

 

f**king hell - if thats the case that proper sucks, and i can tell you that would have pissed me right off and put me in a foul mood 5 minutes after arriving!

 

being close to the front when gates open so i can get my spot in Big Ground it literally the only reason i go through the pain of getting the first possible coach each year...

 

[kalifire]

10 minutes ago, -TLR- said:

so are you saying that if i had been fortunate enough to have gotten a ticket this year - then when getting off the coach at 4.30 i would have had to go right round the other side and join the end of the car park queue?

 

Yep, and that's exactly what happened. 

[clasher]

Damn, that sound awful.

 

We were on a NatEx coach that departed Bristol at 5:30 and we were placed in the correct queue.

[gooner1990]

36 minutes ago, kalifire said:

I mentioned this in the PGA thread, but thought I'd make a dedicated thread on the off chance it catches the eye of any festival staff who might be browsing.

 

So as most know, there are two 'sides' to PGA. The side where people who arrive by car queue (and often the overflow from PGD), and the side for arrivals via shuttle (from Castle Cary or the Bath and West Showground) and See/National Express coaches. Depending on how you arrive, you're going to queue on one side or the other. 

 

However, until some point around 5:30-6am, everyone who arrived by shuttle or coach were sent to the back of the driver's side queue. We had to walk past the empty lanes clearly signposted for shuttles and coaches, as stewards insisted the correct queue for shuttle/coach arrivals was the one with thousands of drivers already waiting.

 

In practice, what that meant was there was absolutely no advantage to arriving by public transport and in fact, a significant disadvantage until the stewarding team eventually figured out that the regular public transport queues were empty. Those of us used to going through the gates shortly after 8am had to wait hours longer.

 

It was a pretty miserable start to the festival and it felt like the stewards had f**ked up badly. Was anyone else affected?

 

That to me sounds like a major f**k up and the stewards were told something incorrect by someone higher up?  Did anyone explain why they were moving everyone round to the 'drivers' side?

 

[stuie]

1 hour ago, kalifire said:

I mentioned this in the PGA thread, but thought I'd make a dedicated thread on the off chance it catches the eye of any festival staff who might be browsing.

 

So as most know, there are two 'sides' to PGA. The side where people who arrive by car queue (and often the overflow from PGD), and the side for arrivals via shuttle (from Castle Cary or the Bath and West Showground) and See/National Express coaches. Depending on how you arrive, you're going to queue on one side or the other. 

 

However, until some point around 5:30-6am, everyone who arrived by shuttle or coach were sent to the back of the driver's side queue. We had to walk past the empty lanes clearly signposted for shuttles and coaches, as stewards insisted the correct queue for shuttle/coach arrivals was the one with thousands of drivers already waiting.

 

In practice, what that meant was there was absolutely no advantage to arriving by public transport and in fact, a significant disadvantage until the stewarding team eventually figured out that the regular public transport queues were empty. Those of us used to going through the gates shortly after 8am had to wait hours longer.

 

It was a pretty miserable start to the festival and it felt like the stewards had f**ked up badly. Was anyone else affected?

 

This sounds ridiculous, so ridiculous that if it wasn't first hand from a reliable poster I'd struggle to believe it! 

 

That decision would ultimately have been made by the Gate Manager employed by GFL so if you don't mind, I'll feed it back and hope that someone looks into it.  There could have been a difficulty of some kind - wristband allocations not in place or something like that, but if it was just a bad decision by the Gate Manger it should be flagged. 

 

 

[dotdash79]

23 minutes ago, stuie said:

 

That decision would ultimately have been made by the Gate Manager employed by GFL so if you don't mind, I'll feed it back and hope that someone looks into it.  There could have been a difficulty of some kind - wristband allocations not in place or something like that, but if it was just a bad decision by the Gate Manger it should be flagged. 

The coach and drivers queue do merge and use the same entry exit points in at gate a so I’m not sure if wristbands would be an issue. Maybe they thought these people were on a private coach

[The Nal]

Im more shocked that people set off at 1am!

[-TLR-]

Just now, The Nal said:

Im more shocked that people set off at 1am!

 

gotta get my spot under the pylons in Big Ground!

 

trust me - these days if i could stroll onto site on Thursday afternoon and get a spot i would do so... the overnight traveling and queuing is not something i particularly enjoy in my old age... but i pales in comparison to the stress of getting to an already full field....

[Fred Zepplin]

Gate A must have been very busy this year. We got there at 2pm and still had to queue up for an hour and a half. Normally at that time you can walk straight in

[The Nal]

12 minutes ago, -TLR- said:

 

gotta get my spot under the pylons in Big Ground!

 

trust me - these days if i could stroll onto site on Thursday afternoon and get a spot i would do so... the overnight traveling and queuing is not something i particularly enjoy in my old age... but i pales in comparison to the stress of getting to an already full field....

 

Hear ya but strolling in at 2pm with no queue is the way forward. Lime Kiln area is great and loads of room.

[Quark]

6 minutes ago, Fred Zepplin said:

Gate A must have been very busy this year. We got there at 2pm and still had to queue up for an hour and a half. Normally at that time you can walk straight in

 

Must have picked up for some reason, we got off the coach and into the queue at 10:40 and were through and walking to camp in an hour

[gooner1990]

4 minutes ago, The Nal said:

 

Hear ya but strolling in at 2pm with no queue is the way forward. Lime Kiln area is great and loads of room.

 

I strolled in PGD at 11.30am on the Weds this year - was bliss!

Edited July 8, 2025 by gooner1990

[The Nal]

4 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

 

I strolled in PGD at 11.30am on the Weds this year - was bliss!

 

Yeah after the sh*t show of 17 or 19 (cant remember which) I ditched the early arrival.

[kerplunk]

27 minutes ago, -TLR- said:

 

gotta get my spot under the pylons in Big Ground!

 

trust me - these days if i could stroll onto site on Thursday afternoon and get a spot i would do so... the overnight traveling and queuing is not something i particularly enjoy in my old age... but i pales in comparison to the stress of getting to an already full field....

 

 

This is the bind. I nearly spat my beer out when @Boris informed me at the meet that wednesday was a day for relaxing and chilling. Yeah if you park up in the campervan field's on tuesday - lovely - but for the thousand who do the tuesday night in the car parks thing it's a different story.

 

At least it worked well for me this year - through PGD in record time (8.30) and got the spot I was aiming for at the top of pennards. An easy stroll to the park area/glade/greenfields/arcadia etc. I was knackered wednesday evening and straight to bed after the opening ceremony but it was worth it - I think! 🤪

 

 

 

 

 

[Paul ™]

Disaster? 😆

[The Nal]

6 minutes ago, kerplunk said:

 

 

This is the bind. I nearly spat my beer out when @Boris informed me at the meet that wednesday was a day for relaxing and chilling. Yeah if you park up in the campervan field's on tuesday - lovely - but for the thousand who do the tuesday night in the car parks thing it's a different story.

 

At least it worked well for me this year - through PGD in record time (8.30) and got the spot I was aiming for at the top of pennards. An easy stroll to the park area/glade/greenfields/arcadia etc. I was knackered wednesday evening and straight to bed after the opening ceremony but it was worth it - I think! 

 

 

Or you could get a full nights kip, stroll in at lunchtime, set up and then go for a pint/relax/chill/explore and not be knackered.

[Kashkin]

A friend cycled in and was stuck at PGA for about 4 hrs.

[The Nal]

There wouldn't be a queue if everyone didnt arrive at the same time. 

[stuie]

3 minutes ago, The Nal said:

There wouldn't be a queue if everyone didnt arrive at the same time. 

 

Especially at Gate A - several coaches arrive at the same time and it all goes to sh*t for a bit. 

[dj_conway]

I want to add to the madness that is PGA.

In 2024, we parked in Pink, and made our normal way through Orange Car Park with the aim of entering through PGD. Stewards on the path were diverting everyone to PGA, saying PGD was a four hour wait.

Fine, whatever.

We joined the back of the PGA snake at 8am, and we literally stood still for 2 hours in the baking heat. One of my mates decided enough was enough and said he was going to PGD, as it can't be as bad as this.
Half an hour later, he rang us and said he was in, having queued for 10 mins.

Our full party of 15 or so people left the queue and headed to PGD.

No queue, straight in.
 

This year, roughly same time of arrival, we had the same stewards doing the exact same tactic.

We politely told them we are not going to PGA.

We had to divert through orange car park where the stewards were actively trying to stop people crossing and joining the PGD queue.

From there, queued for about an hour before getting in.

 

Makes me wonder why they would prefer everyone to queue for hours on end rather than getting them into the festival.

Madness I tell you.

[kieran__]

I arrived on the 1am National Express coach from Stratford at about 5.20am - at that point we joined the 'correct' queue - i.e. not with people from the car park, but the queue that coach arrivals always join. Not sure if there was an inconsistency, but we weren't the first in the queue - I estimate we were a few hundred people back; the gates seemed to open slightly before 8am there and we were through by 8.05am - and on Pennard Hill by 8.25am or so.

So there were definitely some people from coaches before us sent the right way (i.e. the way we got sent) and lots of people after us. I know there are separate queues (albeit running alongside each other at the end) for National Express, Seetickets and Shuttle Bus, so I don't know if just one of those got messed up? Maybe the shuttle bus?

Really feel for those who got sent the other way, would have been a total nightmare! 

Edited July 8, 2025 by kieran__

[gooner1990]

57 minutes ago, The Nal said:

 

Yeah after the sh*t show of 17 or 19 (cant remember which) I ditched the early arrival.

 

Was my first year of doing it after the sh*t show of last year - will never go back to it!

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

3 hours ago, kalifire said:

I mentioned this in the PGA thread, but thought I'd make a dedicated thread on the off chance it catches the eye of any festival staff who might be browsing.

 

So as most know, there are two 'sides' to PGA. The side where people who arrive by car queue (and often the overflow from PGD), and the side for arrivals via shuttle (from Castle Cary or the Bath and West Showground) and See/National Express coaches. Depending on how you arrive, you're going to queue on one side or the other. 

 

However, until some point around 5:30-6am, everyone who arrived by shuttle or coach were sent to the back of the driver's side queue. We had to walk past the empty lanes clearly signposted for shuttles and coaches, as stewards insisted the correct queue for shuttle/coach arrivals was the one with thousands of drivers already waiting.

 

In practice, what that meant was there was absolutely no advantage to arriving by public transport and in fact, a significant disadvantage until the stewarding team eventually figured out that the regular public transport queues were empty. Those of us used to going through the gates shortly after 8am had to wait hours longer.

 

It was a pretty miserable start to the festival and it felt like the stewards had f**ked up badly. Was anyone else affected?

 

So that would be why the drivers side queue seemed to be moving much slower this year.  A lot of coach people thrown in.

 

Also the width of the whole of PGA seemed to be smaller this year.  Fewer security check lanes and wrist banding lanes.

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

10 minutes ago, dj_conway said:

I want to add to the madness that is PGA.

In 2024, we parked in Pink, and made our normal way through Orange Car Park with the aim of entering through PGD. Stewards on the path were diverting everyone to PGA, saying PGD was a four hour wait.

Fine, whatever.

We joined the back of the PGA snake at 8am, and we literally stood still for 2 hours in the baking heat. One of my mates decided enough was enough and said he was going to PGD, as it can't be as bad as this.
Half an hour later, he rang us and said he was in, having queued for 10 mins.

Our full party of 15 or so people left the queue and headed to PGD.

No queue, straight in.
 

This year, roughly same time of arrival, we had the same stewards doing the exact same tactic.

We politely told them we are not going to PGA.

We had to divert through orange car park where the stewards were actively trying to stop people crossing and joining the PGD queue.

From there, queued for about an hour before getting in.

 

Makes me wonder why they would prefer everyone to queue for hours on end rather than getting them into the festival.

Madness I tell you.

 

Yeah, I saw people cutting across to PGD and the security were calling "shame" to some of them for not obeying their instructions!