Early arrivals at Glastonbury music festival yesterday and today have faced traffic queues of up to ten hours on their journey to the site.
A combination of wet weather and poor ground conditions at Worthy Farm, where the massive event is held, meant that many guests were stuck in cars, campervans and caravans for much longer than expected.
Glastonbury organisers urged people who had set off but not yet reached the site to “stop somewhere safe and warm”.
“If you are already queueing to get into the site, please bear with us and follow the instructions from the signage and traffic managers,” they communicated via Twitter.
People arriving by coach or train have been told to travel as planned but to be prepared for “your journey to take longer than usual”.
The festival is expected to attract up to 180,000 people this year, with this year’s headline acts including Muse, Adele and Coldplay, who will all take to the famous Pyramid Stage.
Avon and Somerset Police released a statement on the congestion, with a spokesperson saying:
“We’re advising people to avoid travelling in this area unless it’s absolutely necessary. If you’re planning to travel to the festival, please delay your journey until later in the day or avoid coming to the site today altogether.
“If you’ve already left, then find somewhere to stop and wait until the traffic congestion situation improves.
The festival has in previous years also been plagued by poor weather and swamp-like conditions, with boggy fields and slippery paths often cited by festival-goers as key problems.
It seems unlikely, however that the weather and delayed start to the event will put off fans, who have taken to twitter to make light of the situation using the hashtag ‘#glastonburytraffic’.
One festival attendee, ‘@dreadlockpastor’ joked ‘My car just received a council tax bill been stuck in #glastonburytraffic for so long’, with another who had travelled a long way to attend, ‘@joannapetrucci’ commenting: ‘I got from Vegas to UK yesterday quicker than I got from Essex to Glastonbury today. #glastonburytraffic‘
