Festivals campaign for no under 18 camping

[Anna1974]

I've just been to Leeds festival (I'm a 40-something mum who's been to many festivals) and truly fear for these thousands of kids. At Leeds, there was severe lack of water points with hour long queues to get it, hardly any staff presence (kids with severe sun stroke on top of high levels of drug and alcohol intake and no medical attention - a member of staff admitted this to me as he said ' volunteers' were the staff and had been on benders and not turned up for their shifts) and horrific camping conditions in piles of food waste. The toilets were cleanish as the kids hadn't drunk enough fluids to use them. On the night of the horrific death of the young 17 year old girl at Leeds, my friend's 16 year old son saw 5 other kids fitting.
Could we campaign to get a ban on under 18s camping at these festivals? Give them a couple more years to mature and build up experience if going out and partying. If they know they have to come home each night, surely it would stop the drug taking?

It's very naive to think that stopping them from camping are a festival will stop the drug use. Taking drugs isn't something exclusive to festivals!

No why should the minority spoil it for everybody else? Me and my siblings and any friends I know went aged 16 but we didn't take any drugs.

Would make little to no difference.

I went to Reading on Sunday. It wasn’t it’s usual mess this year. A few drunk, but not off their faces, very little sunburn. A lot of them had their reusable water bottles clipped onto their bumbags.
It frightens me to send DD on her own, although she is not shy or scared to call home for help, be it for her or a friend. She knows I’ll come running, no questions asked.
So...we’re...around. At the same festival. We check in with each other a few times in the day, but she’s doing her thing, we’re doing ours.
I said I’ll stop when she’s 18.
I appreciate this might not work for everybody, but I genuinely love festivals and we’ve taken her to festivals since she was a toddler, she doesn’t think it’s weird her mum goes to Reading. In fact, I’m the one going to Prodigy and she’s in the acoustic tent.
Couldn’t do the whole 3 days anymore, though.

I wouldn’t ban camping though. It’s shit anyway, but the stewards are not there to babysit. And the ambulances are on stand by.

Surely it's better just to get the festivals to provide better support. More water points seems the obvious ones. I don't think camping bans will change things. If the kids want to do drugs and drink they will.

I haven't been for years but used to as a teenager and the welfare volunteers were usually really helpful, no issues re water etc. Maybe it's the hot weather that's caught them out this year?

My 16 year old DD was at one this weekend - she had a blast - she's camped loads before and was prepared. They were very hot but patiently queued for water - the organisers def need more stations for that - and they camped in a far field (but quieter) so had long walks for everything but they treated it as a mini holiday with music on tap and were fine.
Kids will do drugs whereever and get into bother whereever, guess it's just more concentrated in a festival.
Agree with others that it just some that can spoil it for others, I wouldn't ban them - they have to learn somehow!

Yes, it was the lack of support and general duty of care I found alarming. The festival is aimed at very young people. These are inexperienced kids who can't legally drink in pubs by themselves and are truly having a momentous baptism of fire into alcohol and maybe drug taking, topped with little sleep. No matter how sensible we think our kids are, peer pressure, inexperience and being intoxicated could have the most dire consequences.

I agree! I was at the festival on the Sunday. It was v poorly organised. There was a complete lack of support for young people at the festival and it was full of young teenagers. Food was v expensive, queues were an hour long, water queues were, at times, an hour long. I found it very odd that food was not allowed into the arena, neither were soft drinks but drugs seemed readily accessible! (This was evident as the ground was littered with small plastic drug bags.)I understand that small re-usable bottles were, however queues were v long and obviously people were at the festival to see their favourite acts not to stand in long queues. It just felt a little like drug taking was expected and, in some ways indirectly encouraged as a queue for a drink was over an hour long and sold at extortionate prices. It concerned me that all water and soft drinks had sold out by late afternoon. I understand that most of the kids will have had a fabulous time although it would have been nice to see attendants walking round offering suncream, water etc to people that desperately needed it. All volunteers were v spaced out young people. I did not see a ‘recovery tent’ although I’m sure one was there and it’s a shame st Johns ambulance etc weren’t there. It wasn’t well organised.

Ps I understand that young people will take drugs but it just didn’t seem like a safe environment to do it in and it was this that shocked me. Why can’t a festival that charges a lot for a ticket pay to have a free drug testing area? It’s readily accepted that many of these young people are going to take drugs, there were barely any checks into the arena - a glance in a bag. It’s just crazy. It’s like saying get completely off ur faces - it’s only £8 an E, but it’s ur responsibility. I imagine there was no hour long queues for Es either!

DD (18) was at Leeds for the full 5 days. Luckily she was with sensible people and they had filled the car with bottles of water so they kept popping back to pick up more.

Even so, one of DD's friends got v bad sunburn and another fainted and had to be picked up by parents early.
In the welfare tent while waiting for the friend's parents to arrive they witnessed a young boy having a seizure.

Ambulances arrived on 4 different occasions during the space of one night just in their camping field alone.

I was very upset to hear the tragic news that a 17 year old had died. There are always casualties at festivals but all this seems a bit beyond normal.