Revellers at a music festival were left frustrated after being evacuated from the site due to concerns over lightning. Those attending Party in the Park in Morpeth, Northumberland, were told to leave the event on Sunday evening due to a thunderstorm.
They were asked to wait in their tent, car or caravan if they had purchased a weekend camping ticket. However some of those who bought a Sunday day ticket made their way home as they had nowhere to go.
Festival reopens after 90 minutes
Around 90 minutes later, customers were told that the festival, which was located in a field near Craik Park, was back on. Some of the tribute artists were rescheduled while others, such as the Sam Fender act, were cancelled all together.
In an initial Facebook post, organisers said: "For everyone's safety, we are currently evacuating the festival site due to an incoming thunderstorm. Please follow instructions from our team and remain safely in your cars, tents or caravans until the storm has passed and we confirm it is safe to return."
"Where possible, affected acts will be rescheduled. We know this is disappointing, but the safety of everyone on site — our guests, artists, crew and traders — has to come first." They told customers to "stay away from fencing and power lines".
Lightning strikes within two miles
In a follow up post, they said: "Thank you SO much for your patience and understanding while we waited for the storm to safely pass. The gates are now OPEN and we’re ready to get this final night of PITP back underway!"
They went on to clarify that they were concerned about lightning in the area. They posted (sic): "It wasn’t delayed for the rain. It was the lightning that hit 4 times within 2 miles of us. If it rains heavy again we will be staying open. But if the lightning hits close we have to take everyone's safety into account."
Day ticket holders voice frustration
Some of those who purchased day tickets aired their frustrations about the incident on the festival's Facebook page. One person posted: "So we didn't have a car, tent or caravan - we had to head home!! Please advise on your refund policy."
Another person commented: "So what about those that had no where to shelter so had to head home?!!! We were told to leave the site now missing out on the acts we actually wanted to see!!". A third person said: "Everyone who had a day pass has left. What a wash out, no need to evacuate at all, was ridiculous, waste of a ticket."
A fourth person added: "We can't get back as we were ordered to evacuate with nowhere to go. Our safety was not anyone's priority when were asked to leave to cars and tents (neither of which applied if you were dropped off there.) You can't then expect people to leave the site as requested, get in a taxi to do so, and then return to the festival in another taxi (bank holiday rates.) again. The acts I booked for are not now on either. I'd like a refund please."
Organiser defends decision
Andy Holden, who organised the festival, told ChronicleLive: "We made a professional decision and it was the right one. Within 90 minutes we got everyone back in. It was a collective decision from my team. We had to do that for people's safety.
"It was a fantastic day until we had to make that decision. All we wanted to do was get people out of the marquee to protect people's safety. At the end of the day we just wanted people to get away from infrastructure and disperse people."
"I told them to go back to their tents and cars but the day ticket holders have got nowhere to go really. Once we reopened, 85% to 90% of people came back in."
"Everyone was absolutely fine. We had to reschedule some bands. We had to make decisions about bands so some were moved back and some were cancelled."
Andy said that around 80% of festival-goers had purchased a weekend ticket. He said those most affected by the evacuation were the couple of hundred people who purchased Sunday day tickets.
When asked if they would be refunded, he said: "These people will get some sort of ticket for next year."
