"I went to this. From the moment I drove in the Production entrance unchallenged I knew it was going to be a farce...

The supposed Campervan field was unstewarded, full of tents and cars, no separation of units or fire lanes or anything the emergency services would require - within half an hour we were boxed in by another camper and a load of tents. There were only four portaloos in the field, and no chemical toilet disposal facilities.

We went to exchange our tickets for wristbands and were directed to the Box Office, who in turn directed us across the site to another marquee. There, they gave us Weekend wristbands but told us we had to collect our Camping wristbands at another desk. Queued up for that one and were directed back to the Box Office, who in turn tried to direct us back to the previous marquee. Eventually, they gave us one Camping wristband (to share?!) telling us we only had one campervan ticket (the people in the marquee had taken our camping tickets)... more arguing ensued until we were reluctantly given the extra wristbands. Given the difficulty in obtaining the requisite numbers of Camping wristbands then, we spent all weekend wondering what exactly they were for since - there was no steward on the wide open entrance - anyone could come and go from our field and as soon as a clear route out of the field appeared someone else would put a tent up or park a car there, if only for the day.

Alarmed by the level of organisation, I'd rung some mates of mine who were due to play on the main stage on the Sunday night to check if they'd been paid up front. They said they'd only got their deposit the day before, after much agitating and threatening to pull out. They'd done better than Dizzee at least, who didn't get paid at all and so didn't show up on the Friday night.

By Saturday, it was turning into a public health issue - all bar one of the four loos in our field were full and unusable and all of the loos in the arena itself I encountered were full to overflowing. More acts had pulled out, and British Sea Power discovered the local crew had walked after they'd found out they weren't going to be paid.

By today it was really grim, the last remaining portaloo in our field was full, and the weather had turned. I was sat in my van reading when I got a call from my mates to say the promoters had admitted they weren't going to be paid, so they had pulled out too - the truck with all their gear was on the motorway on the way down at the time! As I was packing up to leave they came to empty the loos in our field for the first time since Friday, though in hindsight that was probably only because they were about to take them away...

The back of the timetable laminate says "See you in Zoo9!" - I suspect by the time the local licensing authority, emergency services, office of fair trading and the irate punters have had their say, that'll be extremely unlikely"

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=32560862824

it sounds like hell

is soooo gonna be the end of the festival buzz, for a good few years. It seems only the established and experienced organisers can get good ticket sales and a well-run event.

utter shambles. spent most of the weekend in the campsite or on the beach, so not too bad overall once you resigned yourself to the fact that the two or so acts you actually cared about seeing weren't going to play.