Car park disgrace!

Took two hours of complete stand still to move from the carpark and therefore did not get back to London until 3.30am. Very poorly organised with no stewards where they were needed, and then 10 of them on the road once you got out. Ridiculous planning by Vince Power and completely ruined any good vibes from the music.

Have been to many festivals and have never seen any car park exit so badly organised.

Will not be returning as a result of this and I am sure the thousands of others in the same position will agree.

Absolutely right - we took just under 3 hours to get out and saw one attendant who clearly had no idea what was going on. It completely ruined the day and hopefully Vince Power will suffer the consequences with the thousands who won't bother next time. If you're going to organise an event with no trains afterward then make an effort with the car parking - it's not difficult. Everyone realises it is going to take a while to get out but to have no arrangement other than a total free for all while the organisers presumably just sit back and count their takings is a joke.

thats what it was like, badly organised

A great neil young gig though, his acoustic set was sublime and his A DAY IN THE LIFE
Neil young covering a beatles song
I THOUGHT I HAD DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN

Totally agree, took two hours to move, and then was a total free for all. I've been to many events with lots of cars, and never before have I seen such chaos.

It would be nice to see an apology and an acknowledgement of what happened.

We had two kids and left 1/2 hour early to beat the rush, but even that was too late, and we basically sat in the car park for 2 hours. We'd came for the whole day, and were at a big disadvantage since we were parked near the front.

As far as we could tell, the problem was caused by no marshals, and people just driving out by any route and bottle-necking at the exits from the farm. Terrible, really terrible.

2 hours toget out the carpark - 2hours 30mins to get backto Birmingham - says it all! Thank god for Neil Young- dont know what bloodfart is on but he really was awesome

It's really not that hard. Have more than one exit, have plenty of people stewarding traffic and ensure people get out safely. Luckily having spent two solid hours stationary in the car there was no danger of me running anyone over.

By arriving early we were seemingly penalised even more by it becoming logistically impossible to get out.

Where were the police?

The V Festival in Chelmsford had this problem once and now has it sorted. Maybe some sponsorsip of car park stewards would make all the difference!!

I agree with previous comments - a heartfelt acknowledgement and apology for this fiasco would be appreciated by the VP organisation or the man himself.

Perhaps it's just as well I couldn't keep my ticket stub!!! That's another subject..


Flaves

andyg wrote:Thank god for Neil Young- dont know what bloodfart is on but he really was awesome

Indeed - what a set. Nice to see the early albums get so much playtime.

Yep 2 hours sitting there waiting to get out they did have three exits but no stewards!!!!
I got there early as wanted to see all the bands a totaly awsome day spoiled by the car parking so was parked in the furthest corner from the exits. Come Vince Power and The Hop Fam sort it out. Seeing Neil Young was just brilliant tho staked out my spot at the front early on fantastic.

It always takes ages to get out of these sort of functions, doesn't it? I expected to get back home at about 3.00, knowing it would take ages to get out and I got in 20 minutes early!!! Great day and Bloodfart? Well............

We managed to get out quickly, but part of the reason we didn't have any delay was that we couldn't find our car in the first place. When we did the car park we were in was nearly empty.

It would have helped if the stewards were better informed and more able to direct the lost and confused. Only one had a map. He sent us back in the direction of one of his co-workers who had sent us up by him. Two stewards said they didn't know anything about the parking and had to ask someone else.

Because we arrived later on in the show (during the Guillemots) we were in the overspill car park. It had no markers such as signs, numbers, etc, and working out where it was in the dark was tricky. But of course being near the exit meant we were out early. On the way through a lot of people were asking us what was going on and if there was any movement. Most people looked resigned to a long wait but they weren't thrilled by it. One car load was dancing under the moonlight to "Harvest Moon" so they were happy enough, but they were the exception.

...the whole thing was a total balls up!

They only had about 4-5 people trying to steward all the traffic in the Yellow Zone and only 1 of those was over the age of 20.

None of them seemed to have any experience and it was only because the people actually got out of their cars and told them what to do that the whole thing got sorted out.

I've been to many events like this and it has NEVER been this bad!!

Vince really needs to get on this website and make an official apology but I bet he's tucked up in BED!!!

Can sympathise with you all. I've experienced this shambles at Hop farm events before so took the gamble of leaving at 10-20pm and missing the last couple of songs. Sailed straight out of there and through a cordon of about 10 police motorbikes sitting there doing nothing. Heard the last strains of 'Words' as I was going out the gate so I gather I didn't miss too much after that.
Some other form of entertainment, especially for the kids, would have been a good idea as my 11 and 12 year old got a bit bored at times especially between bands.
People moan about the organisation at the Hop farm but it was the model of efficiency compared to the Z00 thousand festival at Port Lympne where on Friday my wife and kids arrived at 9am but weren't actually allowed into the arena until 4-30pm !!! when the gates were supposed to open at 10am, no access to food or drink while they waited and then one of the 'headliners' didn't even turn up. Complete disaster!!!!!!

Generally I was happy with this event because it was a lot more like festivals should be. Kids allowed in free, you could take your own food and drink and plenty of people clearing up keeping the site tidy. Great bands, good atmosphere but crap weather.

No Sponsorship : No Branding : and we can now add No F#*king Clue. Mr Power couldn't care I imagine. He only relented on the No Food or Drink because of the response from the very people that he was evidently trying to attract, and of course this was quite some time before the event. There's no point in having entry into the car park well marshalled (good organisation) but leaving the exit to a complete free for all, and yes it was basically first in last out, we made it to the road at just before 2am. Thankfully we only live about 30 miles away, I feel sorry for those with a much longer journey.

Moggett ~ my boredom solution was a nintendo DS with a plastic covering also an umbrella and colouring & Su-Duko for kids ~ mine are younger than yours though ~ I've also got a horrible plastic green sofa in my boot now ~ anything to keep them happy, it was a *&^*^%& to deflate