22/06/2012

Chaos at Isle of Wight Festival

You don't often hear of massive delays and traffic chaos getting on to a festival site, if at all it's usually when you leave. Flooding of camping and car parking fields has caused a massive backlog of queuing cars on the island as ferries disgorge carloads of festival goers. Last night three ferries were forced to wait in the Solent for several hours whilst police tried to move the stacked up traffic.

With up to 65,000 people arriving by car it's huge pressure on the islands roads, some have been stuck in their cars for ten to twelve hours.

The festival is under way however, despite the big top having to be evacuated and closed for a while due to high winds.

Irate customers have been venting on Facebook and Twitter, there seems little communication from the organisers whilst the police are doing what they can. Apparently the main car park was flooded on Wednesday and organisers started making a new one and laying more trackway. No info was posted on their web site or Social Networking sites - until aggrieved punters started complaining on Facebook.

Is this just another example of how the dreadful Summer weather is affecting outdoor events in 2012, or should the organisers have cancelled the event at short notice due to the conditions? What will the ground be like by Monday when all the cars need to leave, and will this damage the reputation of this great festival?

More news via the BBC at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-18539315

https://www.facebook.com/iwfestival