All Festival Go-ers, Please read and pass on
Some of you may have read this already, but as many festival go-ers need to read this as possible and in particular the idiots that decide things like this are funny.
It's a post by a steward who attended the Reading festival this year and an account of his experience. i've left it completely unedited so some people may dislike the content, i hope a mod doesn't feel it needs editing for the forum.
Here the post
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im not a user of this or any festival Forums , but i work at Reading every year as one of those guys u see on the towers in your camp sites and had to Find somewhere where people who go to reading can read what i have to say .
we are from dc site services and work many festivals including leeds and glastonbury .. our works site is www.dcsiteservices.com
i had to find a forum , and at least try to describe to you guys , what its like from my point of view , i have been working at reading now for 7 years , firstly on the towers , and then other stuff. ive seen many things from dudes sellin weed , jumpin fences , robbing tents , rape , robbery , fraud and confiscation of glass bottles by stupid scottish security guards (and u know they drink them ) To evictions , streakers , mass riots and staff being mutilated.
But this year took the piss , and im about to tell u why.
Our Job Description is a "safety Steward" which means , we are there to help you guys , when your lost , f*cked up , Youve been robbed , theres a fire , any first aid (including emergencies) etc etc etc , Basically those dudes with STEWARD (not the oxfam ones) on their jackets , are there to save your ass. u need help of any kind , they are the ones to ask , we are Security with Brains , We control the campsite.
There are 300 stewards (150 working at anytime) , 1700ish security , and 20 police on site workin at anytime , the security are responcible for policing the site and handin over bad bad boys to the police etc , we are responcible for gettin teh security to where they are needs , fire brigade to where their needed , and paramedics , and anything on the campsite ...
On sunday night This year i was working in the yellow Area , on one of the towers , now , ive seen some sh*t* in the past 7 years , and evicted some right tits , who have been stealing from your tents , robbing your stuff , setting fire to your tents , well as i got on this tower in the early hours of the morning , i was informed it had been bottled by campers like 15 mins earlier ...so the staff that were on it , had to go sort themselves out , me and my colleague had been drafted in to help for an hour or so ...
when we got there there were 6 fires in a 1000metre radius from the tower , we have 10 exinguishers and 9 had been used , huge Gas canisteres were being thrown on to fires as well as deoderant cans and camping stoves , so there were 2 or 3 explosions per minute , mushrooms of fire and shrapnel in the darkness
The lights in Yellow had been knocked out by someone throwing toilet roll over the Light strings and Burning it , snapping the wire , and killing the generators curcuits , so its pitch black , all u can see are explosions and 1000`s of people around them . (we are supposed to put these out , even with 1000 rioting kids around them )
During all this , a lad appeared at the bottom of the tower , told my colleague that his girlfriend had been trampled in their tent by 200 rampaging lads , and had a serious back injury , i called in an emergency medic response and told my colleague to keep her still and find where she was to guide the ambulance in,
Pretty bad , all my roads are blocked by fires and explosions and 1000`s of u lot rampaging . i had called our fire rescue to come and deal with one of our larger fires as literrally 1000`s of campers had gathered round. . luckily this engine arrived quickly as it was local , and proceeded to clear a path towared the girl with a back injury to Cut her out of her tent . i was awaiting the ambulance still , bare in mind im gettin bottled 20 metres in the air , in darkness , mid riot .
i look down to watch the security drinkin their F*kin coffee , as my colleague fights his way thought a riot in a steward tabard trying to help this girl and hes gettin missiled ,the tabard is like a target. ... i notice a Lad aged about 15 heading to my tower Clutching his Crotch area , im 20 metres in the air and as he staggers towards the tower i can see the blood literally gushing from his lower chest / genitals . i see him collapse in front of my tower on to a camping chair and im lookin Directly down onto him , i see my colleage ( a 26 yr old grown man) go white in half a second , then the security guard panic , then i see the lad pull his t-shirt up , and trousers down , he moved his hand of his groin , and i saw the blood literlly piss out all over the floor , his nuts were no longer there and there was a hole in his stomach , this lad saw this and just blacked out instantly and fell off the chair ......
My radio is going Nuts with riots everywhere , Fires everywhere , people pushing over ice cream vans , catering stalls setting fire to tents , and THROWING GAS CANISTERS IN FIRES , im trying to get through to my control .... This lad , had walked past a fire that someone had thrown a canister on , and got hit by shrapnel . and now , while your all rioting , hes dying at the bottom of my tower , Gushing blood , and im trying to help him , being bottled for 40 quid for a 12 hour shift.
i managed to get though to control , and request an serious serious proper uber large emergency unconsious casualty with multiple injuries losing blood fast , my fire engine was dealing with my back injury casualty , and we diverted Her ambulance to the lad who now has no sex life to look forward to , at 15.
the girl was cut from her tent and got taken off site within an hour. i spoke to paramedics at 7am who confirmed the lad had been taken offsite too ,and was stable but obviously in hospital .
Dudes , im in my early 30`s and after we got off that tower , me and my colleage , both 6foot odd strappin lads who u wouldnt wanna mess with , were in shock and crying , that poor lad , jesus ........
ive met some great people at festivals in 7 years , saved some lives , made some friends , evicted some rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishrubbish ,
but my point is this , it was me - or that lad ,
either i had gone and put all those 6 fires out with my 1 extinguisher against 2000 rioting nutters on each fire who would have batered me or worse as i put a fire out a canister exploded and i end up where that lad is , or YOU GUYS get injured cos we cant help you cos you have stretched us to the limit with all your gay stuff.
its your lives ,we are there to help Y0u.
i wont be there to help u guys anymore im afraid , i cant go back after seeing that lad , im still in shock even now. a few of you reading this will laugh and say hahaha good riddance , but ive seen all our experienced staff disapear over the years .. for teh same reason as me . and now u are gettin 16-18 year old kids who have never seen a festival .
i hope u guys read this and at least 1 person listens .
Seriously, if you care about the future of Leeds & Reading, and the future of other festivals, pass this on.
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I've been going to festivals for years, and have never understood the people who do such dangerous acts. it's not big or clever.
Please pass this on and hopefully at least one idiot will grow up.
Bres.
