Latest news with #festival
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The dark side of Glastonbury: Drug dealers prowling village lanes, pub staff flogging tickets for sexual favours and drunk yobs trying to break in
Fed up villagers living in the shadow of Glastonbury claim they are sick to death of ticketless fans arriving and trying to gatecrash the festival saying they bring drugs dealers in to town, commit lewd sexual acts and spoil the event Locals in Shepton Mallet and Pilton in Somerset claim the huge demand for tickets encourages organised gangs to spring up to take advantage of the chaos, and even blame some of their neighbours for joining in the dodgy dealing. The world-famous music event is currently taking place at Worthy Farm and every edition is attended by hundreds of thousands of people with hundreds more attempting to jump the fence. In order to maintain order, Glastonbury employs an army of security guards who patrol its huge perimeter and turn away anyone trying to enter illegally. But despite this obvious deterrent, ticketless ravers still arrive in their droves every year and haunt the giant fences for days, often sleeping rough wherever they can. MailOnline spent a night outside the festival speaking to gate jumpers, security staff and local villagers. We have chosen not to name any of the premises known to be used as bases by ticketless revelers or individuals spoken to in the article in order to deter imitators. After arriving in Pilton, we attempt to navigate the endless collection of closed and boarded off roads in order to get a sense of how imposing the defences are. Images taken by our drone show a staggering amount of infrastructure in place including 13ft fences and hedge barriers as well as hundreds of checkpoints. Whilst idling close to the festival, we were approached by a clearly drunk man wearing multiple wristbands on his arm who asked if we had tickets. After explaining we didn't, he offered to show us how to get inside, explaining that he was breaking in even though he had a ticket 'as it was more fun.' The man, who was swigging from a glass of vodka, then escorted us to a secluded stretch of the fence on the outskirts of Pilton. After downing his drink and throwing the glass into the woods, the man unsuccessfully attempted to scale the 15ft wall. Conceding defeat, he then attempted to commandeer a temporary security fence to use as a ladder. It was at this point, after we noticed he had drawn the attention of the security, we made a quick exit, leaving the man to his fate. It is unclear if he ever made it inside. The fact the man was wearing multiple wristbands is perhaps the clearest indicator that he - like thousands of others there that day - didn't have a ticket, the accepted wisdom being that security will not have time to check everyone's wristband and will just scan the arms of revelers. This is a tactic that has ostensibly also been used by notorious TikTok ukulele player Liam C, who went viral after sneaking into last year's festival and horrifying Dua Lipa with a private performance. Posting a video from inside the festival this year, the musician bragged 'My wristbands are all nothing ones I've tied on, this is genuine, we've blagged it in.' In the five hours MailOnline spent traipsing around the edges of Glastonbury, we saw multiple groups of mostly young men with small carry bags loitering around stretches of the fence. We didn't see a successful break in attempt in this time. Speaking under the condition of anonymity a member of the security team told us he wasn't optimistic about their chances. They said: 'Honestly it's mad they think we can't see them. 'Why would you be wandering around here if you didn't have a ticket? Some of them might get over the fence, but they never get far. There are over a thousand staff employed on the perimeter, you are always seen by one of us.' And although it may seem like a piece of harmless fun, the consequences of gate crashing can have ugly consequences. Last year's festival was thrown into chaos as hundreds of people snuck in with fake wristbands for just £50 by vaulting the fences - causing stages to be shut down from overcrowding and people to panic from the crush. An exclusive video obtained by MailOnline shows people in the early hours of the morning jumping over the high walls and running into the festival which already hosts more than 200,000 ticket holders. One successful infiltrator told MailOnline: 'It was ridiculously easy to get in. I joined a Reddit group chat of about 300 people and everyone was sharing tips and contact details of people who could break you in.' Official tickets cost over £300 but hundreds joined forums on social media sites to find out how to be snuck in by seasoned pros. While some people vaulted the festival's high walls, others pay for counterfeit wristbands to go through the main gates with. They are met at the Castle Cary train station and given all the legitimate wristbands slipped off the hands of people already in the festival and taken back out by organisers. One person told MailOnline: 'I just got the train down from London and met this girl at the station, paid her £50 in cash and she handed me the wristband.' Given then, that the chances of getting in via the fence are slim to none, what happens when gate crashers need a place to unwind after a day out in fields? Well according to locals, they descend on their neighbourhoods and village pubs - and that's where the trouble really starts. All pubs in the bordering village of Pilton were closed when MailOnline visited on Wednesday this week, but just up the road in the small town of Shepton Mallet they are a hub of activity. The landlord of one small local pub said that the problems in the tiny town, which has a population of just under 11,000 people, start well before the festival even begins as 'drug dealers are drawn here.' 'I'd say a few weeks before it starts you start to see them [drug dealers]', he explained, 'they pull up in their flash cars and just deal on the streets. Nobody else has cars like them. 'It's essentially free reign, the police are too busy with the festival - they're never caught.' Things further deteriorate from Tuesday to Saturday of the festival week when break in attempts peak. He continued: 'Oh it can be bedlam. There are young people off their heads on goes what everywhere you look, scrabbling for a ticket. Some of the locals play up to it which they really shouldn't. 'One year somebody accepted a sexual favour in one of the pubs for a day pass, it is pretty extreme.' Due to the incredibly overbearing nature of the festival, which shuts down the majority of roads around it for weeks, many residents are given a set number of passes allowing them in for free. The offer is so appealing it can even prove to be a major bonus for selling houses in the area. At the time of publication, rightmove's property of the week is a £575,000 three bedroom cottage with the listing stressing that 'home owners have access to valued village tickets.' However, some locals told MailOnline this scheme was open to manipulation by less scrupulous residents looking to make a quick buck. One woman told us: 'You can sell these passes for hundreds and there are ways to get more than your allocated share. 'One person I know has managed to get over ten of them and he has been flogging them for loads everywhere you look. 'It's really not good, it ruins it for everyone else and it encourages these people to turn up emptyhanded and behave like louts for five days. We live here!' In a neighbouring pub, the effects of this anti-social behaviour are plain to see. Due to its carpark, the venue has become popular with ticket touts who infrequently arrive and promise to guarantee entry to the festival for a fee usually in the region of £500-£600. The attempts are seized upon by desperate revelers willing to take a punt on local knowledge, however the attempts are rarely sophisticated or successful. In the short time MailOnline was in the pub, we watched multiple small vehicles arrive and collect payment from groups in exchange for getting them through the checkpoints. All but one of the trips was unsuccessful, and some were catastrophically so. One punter showed us a video of an earlier attempt he had made to break into the festival which resulted in him being locked up in the festival jail. In the clip, a group of people can be seen huddled in the back of the lorry as it moves through one of the many gated entry points to the sprawling Somerset festival. Knowing the game is up, two gate crashers are seen frantically slashing at the blue tarpaulin cab in an effort to break out on foot. The video then cuts to the revellers locked up in a secure facility with one proclaiming 'We're in Glastonbury jail!' Revellers who try and outsmart the security - or misbehave inside - in the coming week could be taken to 'Glastonbury Jail', officially a holding space where people who break the rules are evicted from the site. While detained, those who've fallen foul of Glastonbury's laws - including drug dealers or people displaying disorderly behaviour - are allowed to make a statement before they're frogmarched off site, occasionally into the hands of the police. The new installation is the latest innovation the UK's biggest festival has implemented since security was seriously beefed up in 2000. Speaking under the condition of anonymity to MailOnline, the man who filmed the video revealed he and others had paid £500 for the attempt after being picked up from a local pub and felt like 'illegal migrants'. He said: 'I was desperate to try it. You know f*** the system. This random guy arrived in this huge blue lorry and said we're gonna get everyone in. We all paid him £500. 'We got driven to Glasto jail which is my favourite place. I've been to Glastonbury three times and been to the jail three times. 'I'm not giving up this year, I will get in.' However there are many in Shepton Mallet who wish they all would and give them some peace. The landlord of one pub told us that although business spikes during the festival, some of the behaviour on display as the drinks flow is appalling. They said: 'The problem is that they turn up here with nothing. Sometimes they don't even have tents, they are just planning on sleeping rough. 'Of course whilst we're open it's mainly fine, bar the odd incident - we think one person has just defecated on the floor of the toilet for example, but when we shut at 11pm - where do they go? 'The answer is they have no choice but to sleep outside and all the noise and disruption that causes not just our business but others is incredibly damaging.'
CBC
4 hours ago
- Business
- CBC
Pedestrian Sunday is back in Kensington this weekend, but future of festival remains unclear
Kensington Market's popular Pedestrian Sunday festival is back this month, but its future for the rest of the season remains unclear as organizers look for solutions on safety concerns and the problem of illegal vendors. The festival has been running for more than two decades on the last Sunday of each month from May to October, when much of the market is closed to vehicles while pedestrians, vendors, and street artists fill the streets. It was halted last-minute in May after concerns over the influx of outside vendors and "unregulated food sales and unauthorized substances," the Kensington Market Business Improvement Area (KMBIA) said when announcing the cancellation. KMBIA chair Mike Shepherd says he feels comfortable holding the June 29 event because he believes outside vendors will be spread out across the city due to Pride Festival events and won't necessarily converge on Kensington. And as for July onward, "We'll see how it goes," he said. Kensington considers hiring outside help For now, the KMBIA is exploring options to help the event run more smoothly in the future. Among them is finding new organizers to run it for them. Shepherd says KMBIA is currently in talks with the team behind Do West Fest, adding it has had "really good success at dealing with these same problems." "[The] biggest thing…is what their cost is going to be to us," he said, referring to Uma Nota Culture, the not-for-profit that produced the festival for the Little Portugal Toronto BIA. The organization confirmed to CBC Toronto they had a conversation about potentially producing the event and are thrilled about the opportunity. The KMBIA increased its events and festival budget by 18 per cent this year, city records show. Each Pedestrian Sunday costs about $10,000 and May's unused budget will go into reserves, Shepherd says. The KMBIA also released a community survey on Monday asking residents and businesses for their thoughts on possible solutions such as having police on the streets, more security, or changing the festival's frequency. The results are still trickling in — and while some businesses told CBC Toronto the festival is a financial lifeline, others welcomed last month's pause. Jessica Silva of CrazyLoko Vintage says she loses roughly half her customers to illegal vendors who set up shop in front of her business selling other vintage clothes during the festival. "They're taking away from our business [while] we're here the entire year trying to make ends meet," she said. 'Only so many officers trying to do too big a job' Though there will be four extra security guards at Sunday's event, Shepherd says it's been a challenge to bring in more bylaw officers to crack down on illegal vendors. He says attempts to hire the officers through the city have been unsuccessful — something the city couldn't comment on without more specifics from the KMBIA. Illegal vendors selling things like unregulated food or art can be fined by bylaw officers, according to the city's communications coordinator, Shane Gerard. But if they sell drugs, he says the issue becomes a police matter. The most common violation related to sidewalk vendors is vending without a permit, which carries a $615 fine, Gerard says. This year, Shepherd hopes June's Pedestrian Sunday will give him the chance to have conversations with the illegal vendors and deal with them "in a nice way," before escalating things further. WATCH | Why was Pedestrian Sunday paused in the first place?: Toronto's Kensington market pauses 'Pedestrian Sundays' amid vendor battle 1 month ago Duration 2:28 'Pedestrian Sundays,' a popular tradition at Toronto's Kensington Market, has been put on pause for the first time in twenty years. As CBC's Britnei Bilhete reports, organizers say there's been growing concerns about the event. Local councillor Dianne Saxe says she's repeatedly asked the mayor's office for help with drug use and sales in the area and helped connect Shepherd with city staff to request more bylaw officers. "There's only so many officers trying to do too big a job," Saxe said. CBC Toronto has reached out to the mayor's office but did not hear back before deadline. The entire ward of University-Rosedale currently has two bylaw officers assigned.
The Sun
5 hours ago
- Lifestyle
- The Sun
Aldi launches £10 garden essential that's perfect for lazing in the sun – and even has carry-on bag for festivals
IF you have any festival trips lined up this summer, Aldi has a bargain buy that is sure to elevate your experience. Your tent is sure to become the camping ground hot spot with this £10 item. Lounge around with your friends and enjoy a budget glamping experience with this unique outdoor essential. The Crane Air Lounger is currently available from the Specialbuy section for just £9.99. And just like pop up tents, this item has revolutionised the camping experience. Don't worry about assembling bulky chairs or lugging around air pumps. You won't need anything extra to set up this "comfy off the floor" seat. Easy set up Simply inflate it by holding the opening and swiftly dragging the lounger back and forth to collect air. Then roll over the opening to trap the air inside and secure with the buckle. When inflated, this lounger measures 150 centimetres, allowing plenty of space to pan out with your friends. And it comes with a carry bag, making it ideal for festivals and camping. Shoppers can choose from either blue or grey with this budget buy. Here's how to do festival looks on a budget - and save the planet Festival essential And with Glastonbury kicking off a summer of festivals, why not elevate your camping experience? Whether or not your campsite is windy, this buy will be easy to set up. And if your lounger is not firm enough, or feels like it is deflating, simply unclip and roll it up a few more times. So if the ground is too wet or muddy, this lounger can help you stay clean and dry. And it can also be easily wiped down before you pack it away for your next outing. Other summer buys Aldi shoppers have been racing to pick up other festival gear from the middle aisle. And a 69p festival essential you can pick up from Home Bargains right now. Of if you prefer to camp in your own garden, this Aldi buy is sure to elevate your night under the stars. The Sun has tried and tested a variety of camping gear so you don't have to. Plus, a breakdown of the best deals for festival gear this summer.
BBC News
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Eid on Tour event comes to Leicester city centre
A free pop-up event aiming to celebrate Eid and share the festival to wider audiences is to be held in on Tour will take place at St Peter's Square in the Highcross Shopping Centre on Saturday and Bilal Khan, who is also behind the Halal Food Festival which tours the country, said the event is about taking Eid "across various cities, bringing that energy and showcasing it to other cultures as to how exciting it is for us".The event will feature 14 street food stalls, performances from a Nigerian drummer and Middle Eastern Dabke dancers, as well as artisan stalls. Eid on Tour runs from 09:00 BST to 20:00 on Saturday and 11:00 to 17:00 on Khan, who was born and raised in Leicester, told the BBC: "The Halal Food Festival has been running for four years."This is the first year that we actually introduced Eid on Tour, because we were doing the food festivals and people were asking for more events, free entry events."And we were like, 'right, how can we give something back to the community?'"He said the event was "not specifically for Muslims, to be quite honest, it's for all the other cultures to come and get involved to come and see and get a get a flavour of what we're about on weekends".
The Sun
8 hours ago
- Business
- The Sun
Ninja's summer sale buy with £70 off ‘keeps food cold for five days' – ideal for camping, festivals and BBQs
Planning to explore the great outdoors this summer? Ninja has slashed the price of a popular solution for keeping food cold. The Ninja FrostVault cooler has been reduced from £199.99 to £129.99, saving £70 off. 1 Ninja FrostVault 28L Hard Cooler £129.99 (was £199.99) With the current heatwave and the school holidays approaching, many of us are planning day trips and staycations within the UK. Summer is the time to make the most of exploring new places, but having the right kit can make days out much more enjoyable. Investing in a good cooler keeps food costs down and saves you time queuing, and the Ninja FrostVault is worth considering while it's on sale. The FrostVault is designed to keep food cold for an exceptionally long time - with ice remaining frozen for up to five days. Thanks to it's large size, the Ninja cooler can be filled with cans, bottles and food, and the 28L size fits up to 48 cans, so it's enough to cater for a large family or group of friends. It's ideal for festival-goers, as the events are notoriously expensive for food and drinks, while some campsites have no refreshment options at all. Picnics and beach days are made easier too, or if you fancy a day sunbathing in the garden, you can avoid trips back and forward to the kitchen. For food that's not meant to be ice-cold, there's a handy Dry Zone drawer on the outside, which can be used to store sandwiches, fruit and anything else you want to grab easily. The built-in handles also mean you can just grab the cooler and go. Shoppers are praising the highly-rated cooler, with one saying: ''I'm so happy I had my Ninja FrostVault at a recent festival, it kept my drinks and snacks cool from Wednesday to Sunday (five days!!) and having a cool drink was just so needed when it had been a hot day walking round fields!'' ''I would highly recommend for regular campers or festival-goers.'' Another shopper commented: ''Excellent, does what it says it does.'' ''Great for keeping drinks nice and cool and great when having BBQs.'' It is worth keeping in mind that you will need a large amount of ice prepped when packing the cooler, as one shopper vouched: ''Good size compartment and tray - need a lot of ice for a few days which I have not yet tested.''
