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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be pretty shocked by Glastonbury 'security'?

99 replies

MatildaTheCat · 23/06/2017 09:52

Just had a series of excited whatsapp messages from ds. He's at Glasto for the weekend. Ok, how come? He didn't get tickets this year. Oh,mhe says, really great luck. Hmm, I think and joke 'over the fence?' thinking he's got a work freebie or some such.

No. Apparently if you just rock up 'people' can get you in for £120. But he didn't even need to do that. He literally walked in past all the officials without a ticket. I do not condone this even a tiny bit but it's clearly pretty certain to get in somehow if people will travel from London on the off chance.

So that's exactly how secure it is there. That's made me feel more than a little afraid for the whole event. So was all that checking on Wednesday whilst people got heatstroke in the queues just window dressing?

OP posts:
Opentooffers · 23/06/2017 10:32

Most secure ticket too, even has your photo on it! You need all your details to be registered with them to get a ticket, not so for any other festival I've been to - Leeds, IOW etc.

DanceTheBlues · 23/06/2017 10:33

I know a few people who have got in without tickets. If you have contacts you can pay for/get someone with a crew wristband to come out and meet you with a spare wristband their mate has slipped off their arm and then walk in together. Most crew don't have to show tickets with their picture on re-entry.
Walking with confidence wearing a hi-vis gets you into a lot of places Grin

chitofftheshovel · 23/06/2017 10:34

I believe him. It is amazing how you can make yourself "invisible" if you want to. I've watched a friend just amble through the queue at the Eden project and get in without paying. I've been with another friend in Tanzania walking through a 5 star hotel with his fishing rod to use their private beach. He told me to walk like I belonged there.

Hope your son has a blast.

ShoesHaveSouls · 23/06/2017 10:43

One of the years I went (way back in the 90's) - a fence was broken down, and the police estimates of several thousand outside, without tickets, all got in.

I've not been to Glastonbury this century ( Shock ) but back when I used to go, it was quite relaxed. Wandering nonchalantly, especially alone, can work like magic...

BangkokBlues · 23/06/2017 10:44

There is no fucking way this happened.

There is a two stage turnstile and ticket check which you filter into one at a time

Yo can't just make yourself invisible in the queue.

JiminnyCricket · 23/06/2017 10:51

I'm also calling bollocks.

Turnstyles at the entrance mean you can't get near the inside without being face to face with an official who without fail asks to see your ticket.

SellFridges · 23/06/2017 10:51

A load of my mates got in through the fence in 1999. It's grown by about 15 feet since then.

I'd be surprised to be honest, security was tight last time we went and I can only assume it has got tighter, particularly this year. BUT if you really want to go, it's easy enough to get a ticket one way or another. I imagine someone has got him in, rather than him just strolling on by.

superfluffyanimal · 23/06/2017 10:52

Does he know someone working there or similar? or has he blowna small fortune on a ticket and doesnt want you know?

When I went to V festival I threw my bags over the fence to a friend rather than have them searched but personally had to go through the checks, friends at Glastonbury currently all have wristbands but are able to go back to their car regularly (cool off, get beers from boot etc).

BangkokBlues · 23/06/2017 10:52

Either @MatildaTheCat is lying, or her son is lying.

I'd be pretty worried MatildaTheCat about exactly what your son is up to.... Or how much he spent getting in.

He could have paid for a second hand ticket, he could have been signed up as a worker with a friends food stall or something, and I'm even prepared to accept he could have paid for a staff wrist band.

What he didn't do, is walk into a main gate straight past security. It is totally impossible to get through the turnstiles without a ticket hen a wrist band.

Unless @MatildaTheCat's son is derren brown??

DanceTheBlues · 23/06/2017 10:55

It might be he's blagging you that he just strolled in for free, but you can 100% definitely get in with someone else's crew wristband if you know what you're doing.

silkpyjamasallday · 23/06/2017 10:59

I know more people who break in every year than I do who buy tickets. Definitely not unusual and not difficult to do either, I know I wouldn't pay for a ticket if I wanted to go.

Mammatron · 23/06/2017 11:05

I last went in 2011 and know people who were getting in free then, they weren't just waltzing through the gate though and went to elaborate efforts to get in!

SomeDyke · 23/06/2017 11:08

"I know I wouldn't pay for a ticket if I wanted to go." So do you steal other stuff as well?

Disgraceful suggestion, especially given the security implications nowadays.

specialsubject · 23/06/2017 11:11

if he isn't lying and has cheated his way in, I hope you told him that this doesn't exactly make you proud.

Itstoohottoday · 23/06/2017 11:12

SomeDyke

So what?. Like you've never stolen anything in your life.

Thisarmingman · 23/06/2017 11:15

Back in the day i dont know why anyone bothered paying because it was quick and easy enough to get over the fence. It's more difficult now and you need to cook up your plan in advance but it's still possible with a borrowed wristband. Once you're in no one is bothered unless you bring yourself to their attention somehow. He wouldn't just have walked through though.

BangkokBlues · 23/06/2017 11:24

Is this your son?
sabotagetimes.com/life/confessions-of-a-glastonbury-coke-dealer

Emmageddon · 23/06/2017 11:28

I find it hard to believe he just sauntered in, without coming to the attention of anyone. People have been trying to break into Glastonbury for years, using ladders, fake wristbands etc - none of them have got away with it. Even those that are smuggled in, in a workman's van, for example, after paying said workman 120 quid per head, usually get booted out after a few hours, for not having wristbands. This year, especially, security is extremely tight.

Iamastonished · 23/06/2017 11:28

"So what?. Like you've never stolen anything in your life."

It doesn't make it right, and, no, I don't steal. If I want something for free I ask.

GabsAlot · 23/06/2017 11:31

if hes askd to show a wristban hell get thrown out

Floggingmolly · 23/06/2017 11:32

There's are probably vast numbers of people who've never stolen anything in their lives... Far more than those that have, actually.
Imagine saying to a complete stranger, "Yeah, like you've never stolen anything" as if stealing was as natural and universal as breathing!

Wow Hmm

specialsubject · 23/06/2017 11:32

Like many others on here, I've never stolen anything. I know MN thinks theft from business isn't theft, but the law doesn't share that opinion.

I've been a victim of theft and it isn't pleasant.

so terribly right-on, Glastonbury...

toomuchtooold · 23/06/2017 11:40

I've never stolen anything either! I even paid for a ticket to Glastonbury in 1994 when reckon 2 out of every 3 people there had gone in through the hole in the fence...

Original poster
MatildaTheCat · 23/06/2017 11:41

I'm not sure how I can prove if he's lying but he has never lied before and has precisely zero reason to lie now. He's late twenties, very ordinary looking kind of bloke and has friends there with tickets so is staying in their tent.

I'm afraid it is almost definitely true. He simply has no reason whatsoever to lie to me about it. He's an adult who does as he pleases as far as we, his parents are concerned.

And no, he isn't a drug dealer and no, I'm not proud. As I said in my OP I'm not at all pleased. I worry about these events anyway so am pretty annoyed about it.

I will ask him more details later -if his phone is switched on.

OP posts:
HouseworkIsASin10 · 23/06/2017 11:44

I know a group of people there now who have 'bunked in'.

They didn't go over any fence or walk through security. There are a number of contractors who take a fee to drive them through.
Happens every year.

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