Sunday night Reading festival nightmare - do they even care?

[itsallabittiring]

I wanted to ask about the experience people had on Sunday night in the campsites. My daughter, who is 18 and fairly streetwise, said it was absolutely terrifying as people were going round blowing tents up using aerosols. There was also a massive fight right next to them and then a stampede of people trampled over her tent. They seriously feared for their lives. Until then they had had quite a good time, although some men camping nearby had been threatening on and off so they felt a bit unsafe at times.
Security guards were next to useless apparently and a few of them were apparently clearly on drugs and were asking people for 'Ket'.
It literally sounded like the most unsafe place you could probably think of - they had to take it in turns to stay up and not sleep to try and stop themselves getting blown up. She said it felt so out of control and everyone was drugged up and didn't care.
I would seriously think twice if you think your 16- 18 year old could cope with that. I know my daughter and her friends will never, ever go back. I think it is pretty appalling how scenes like that are allowed to happen. If your teen does insist on going maybe ensure they aren't there for Sunday night which is when it all really kicks off in a nasty way.

All my three children went to Reading…they came home very smelly,absolutely hoarse voice but had a fabulous time…they literally slept for two days !! They were there 2014,17 and 19 . All my children had a fantastic time …they just ignored all the drug dealers!

@Theblackdogagain

I went in 99, 00 and 01. It was the same then, Sunday night people passed on tents and turned over portaloo with people in them. Put me of camping for life.

I was there 99 + 00 and remember this.

We had folks pissing both inside, and on the outside of someone's tent.

Portaloos being pushed over when occupied.

We had campfires then.

And it was rough as fuck. I broke in to the 00 one, and to Glasto, to be honest the only festivals I've ever really enjoyed have been Beautiful Days or Bearded Theory - they're better organized and managed and I prefer their music too.

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

V is in Stafford and Chelmsford. Reading is in Reading. Womad is in Malmesbury now.

Thank you..getting my festivals mixed up..I'm old and have been to many!

Reading '91 when I was 18 was the first..went with a girlfriend and as far as I can recall all was ok apart from torrential rain.

Went to V a couple of times, and for some reason chose the Stafford site, even though I live in London so Essex would have been easier

@Runforthehillocks

I am very old and was at the 1988 Monsters of Rock in Donnington Park. Two people were killed when the crowd rushed forward when Guns n Roses came on. Awful. But not intentionally violent. There was nothing like what is being described here.

I was there too....... great times. 🤟🏼

Teen loses part of her finger in Reading Festival mosh pit - https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/reading-festival-horror-teen-loses-5851264?utmsource=whatsapp&utmmmedium=social&utmcampaign=sharebar

I went in 09 with (now husband) and some friends and we had the same experience Sunday night. We were incredibly lucky in that we'd camped quite far away from everything because we couldn't find anywhere despite going early bird but we saw all the fires of people burning tents. We set off pretty early Monday morning. So definitely isn't anything new unfortunately and there's not a lot the stewards can do.

Reading and Leeds are infamous for this, one of the reasons I never went, even in my 20s.
Doesn’t have to be like this, Glastonbury is the proof of a massive festival with an amazing vibe and very little trouble, even with half the camp on something…

This is so good to know I had no idea.

I've been to Glastonbury in the past and always turned up later so had to camp further up so only had a couple of issues with people stealing stuff from friends tents.

I was aware not to camp near portaloos or at the bottom of hills or near the stages. I get claustrophobic so always wanted to camp at a distance and never wanted to be at the front of the stage.

The fires though, stabbing of tents and gang rapes is filling me with dread at letting DC go age 16 post GCSES. Will need an escape plan if they end up getting mixed up in all that shit.

Why haven't the organisers set up large safe protected marquees at least for them to escape to whilst being attacked or burnt to a crisp

Honestly, I'm generally fairly relaxed and feel there is an element of preparing your dc for the world as they grow up and giving them tools to "say no" and tools to judge situations and respond / get out accordingly when they start going out and about as teens / young adults but I am horrified at these reports, and more so at the fact that it seems to be accepted by so many posters. If this has been going on for 20 years or more, why isn't anyone doing anything about it ?
Aerosols and fires don't mix
Fires and people who have had a little too much alcohol or taken drugs don't mix.
Fires and tents pitched dangerously close together don't mix.
There is so much wrong with the fact there are 9 pages of people saying it has been happening for 20+years - to the extent it is "expected"

It is a disaster waiting to happen.

The organisers obviously need licenses to put on massive events like this - is anyone reporting these instances to those Councils?

DD and I went to Leeds festival 6 years ago on the Sunday, but just had day tickets. We left halfway through the headline act so that we didn't have to queue for the bus.

We didn't see any trouble, but we weren't camping.

I went 03, 04, 05 aged 17-19 and can confirm it was ever thus (or at least was thus in the early to mid noughties too). I remember the tent a few over from ours going up in flames WITH a couple of Aussie girls in it on the last night one year. When the same ket-ted-up twats who torched their tent tried to do one of ours, our little group decided that we didn’t like sleep much anyway. Not fancying premature cremation (or our epitaphs being “they never graduated but at least they got to see The Darkness live”) we and the slightly singed Australians went and sat it out just outside the perimeter of the site until dawn with our backpacks (we abandoned our tents, one being half burnt anyway) and then walked to a greasy spoon as soon as it opened its doors around 5am for a very welcome fry up.

Aah, memories.

This has really shocked me. I was going to go when I was 18 but couldn't get tickets and it's something that I feel I always missed out on - not anymore! I know it's all money, but why isn't there more publicity about this? Why aren't the media reporting on it?

This is shocking.
If this was in the media then a lot of parents wouldn't let (pay for) their 16-17 year olds go and the ticket sales would suffer so they would have to clean it up surely?

I was terrified too on Sundays nights. Memorably, people were setting gas canisters alight and the explosions made it feel like an actual war zone. I don’t know why more isn’t done to stop this!! I think they banned the gas canisters the year after that but it clearly hasn’t made much difference to the behaviour!

I used to go pretty much every year through the 90’s, but as I lived close ish I would commute in a do day tickets only, consequently I had a great time and rarely saw any trouble, however Sunday’s did have a noticeably different vibe. What stuck with me more than anything was the first year I went in the late 80’s, the toilet walls were literally smeared in shit, every single cubicle. I couldn’t get my head around who would want to do that and why, even now it baffles me.

Good God. Have been twice but never stayed the Sunday night (and one year we buggered off on the Saturday and went to a travellodge cos I hate camping) but this sounds like every rule in health and safety code is being broken.
Am amazed it has gone on unreported for so long - have never read about it in the media, wonder how they have kept that under wraps.

@Iamthewombat

Sorry haven't RTFT but when I went to Reading (my very first festival aged 18 in 1991), it was on two sites as I recall..one in the Midlands and one in Essex?

Are you seriously telling us that you have been to Reading and still think that this large and well known town is in Essex or the Midlands? Have you been to the Leeds festival in Wales?

@itsallabittiring having stayed a few Sunday nights myself at Reading festival back the day I can agree that it's by far the scariest night. We had people come into our tent to try and steal stuff, other tents were set on fire. I learned to pack up and leave that night going forward and would recommend anyone else to do the same. Sad to hear it hasn't changed.

@Kite22

Honestly, I'm generally fairly relaxed and feel there is an element of preparing your dc for the world as they grow up and giving them tools to "say no" and tools to judge situations and respond / get out accordingly when they start going out and about as teens / young adults but I am horrified at these reports, and more so at the fact that it seems to be accepted by so many posters. If this has been going on for 20 years or more, why isn't anyone doing anything about it ? Aerosols and fires don't mix Fires and people who have had a little too much alcohol or taken drugs don't mix. Fires and tents pitched dangerously close together don't mix. There is so much wrong with the fact there are 9 pages of people saying it has been happening for 20+years - to the extent it is "expected" It is a disaster waiting to happen.

The organisers obviously need licenses to put on massive events like this - is anyone reporting these instances to those Councils?

It's reported in the news in the days after the festival every year.

Type in a year and 'Reading festival violence' to google and you'll see the reports.

The organisers and the council are well aware of what will happen.

We went to Leeds in 2003 and people were setting fire to tents and throwing burning stuff into trees. The toilets were a cesspit in the ground as the year before someone had set fire to them.

V Fest was in Chelmsford and somewhere in the north.

Temple Newsham in Leeds

V96 was the first V. It was Chelmsford (2 days) and Warrington (1 day only).
The northern leg then moved to Leeds for two nights (which later switched to Reading/Leeds) before going to Stafford since.

I've been to Reading, V (at Warrington), V at Stafford, Glasto and Leeds.

I usually go to gigs on my own and that includes festivals - I've camped alone (or slept in the car) or gone home after. I usually met up with people I know there one way or another.

Leeds was by far the worst and I was glad I wasn't camping and only had day tickets. I remember walking back through the camp site to the buses and seeing it start to kick off already at that point.

Reading had an atmosphere and lots of dickheads but being with a big group who have their heads screwed on and stayed out of trouble, it was fine.

Glasto had a better atmosphere, but as I said previously, thats the only one me or my friends have actually had trouble at personally.

V at Stafford was probably the one I'd call the tameist. Its also the one I'd call the lamest and most middle aged.

@Iamthewombat

Sorry haven't RTFT but when I went to Reading (my very first festival aged 18 in 1991), it was on two sites as I recall..one in the Midlands and one in Essex?

Are you seriously telling us that you have been to Reading and still think that this large and well known town is in Essex or the Midlands? Have you been to the Leeds festival in Wales?

You're talking about V festival in Chelmsford and Staffordshire. I went once and it was very tame!

Sorry to hear of your DD's scary experiences OP.

I have never allowed my DC to go to Reading and this is precisely why.

I had absolutely no idea this kind of thing went on!
Dd 18, wanted to go last year but I put my foot down as I didn’t think she was ready for it. She had planned to go this year although I still wasn’t keen for her to go I couldn’t really stop her but thankfully she couldn’t afford it.
I’m relieved now that she ‘didn’t’ go after reading this thread,I’m not sure she’d have coped!

If she wants to do a festival next year ill definitely be discouraging Reading or Leeds!

They were looking for people to work there the day of the festival on indeed and through uni's for cheap labour, they paid absolute pittance, staff were expected to live on site the entire time but couldn't buy food or drink on site and had to try and bring everything with them. My friend worked it as a last minute job on the saturday overnight and was brought in a coach back to central london and said staff as young as 18 with no formal training were being left to look after the security of entire sectors on their own