A festival attendee has described the “terrifying” experience in a crowd crush with her daughter at Boardmasters music festival in Newquay.
A mother, who told the PA news agency she attended the festival with her husband and two daughters, said: “It was terrifying. Massive issue with overcrowding and security were doing nothing about it.”
She added that her family attended the main stage for Tom Odell’s set.
“My husband stayed outside the barriers with our youngest but my older daughter wanted to (go) inside,” she said.
“When we went in, it wasn’t too bad but it started getting very, very crowded so we tried to move out. We couldn’t get out as there were still so many people streaming in.
“We managed to push to the outer edge near the barriers and I called to a security person to ask why we couldn’t get out. She said there were too many people pushing in so we were stuck. They were aware but did nothing about it despite seeing the danger.”
She then described a “massive crowd surge”.
“I warned the security guards again that there was a big problem brewing. Nothing seemed to be done… There was no security stopping people.”
The festival attendee added that she and her family remained at the festival for another few hours before deciding to leave as the situation was too dangerous.
“We stayed for another couple of hours. We were right next to The Point stage and we could see it getting massively overfilled,” she said.
“We decided to get out of the whole festival. As we did, they must have closed the Point because again, we got crushed by a huge crowd surge and people telling us there were people with broken bones and not to try going down the way we needed to go to get to the exit.
“In the end, we went through an emergency exit.”
She went on to criticise organisers of the festival for “poor and dangerous crowd control measure”.
She said: “My daughters were terrified. I’ve been to many festivals over the years – I’ve never seen one so overcrowded and with such poor and dangerous crowd control measure.”
People on social media reported claims of broken ankles, broken legs and drink spiking.
Devon and Cornwall Police had said a “small number” of people were injured in a crowd surge at the festival, with “none” of the injuries “considered serious”.
The force said in a statement: “We have been notified following a crowd surge at Boardmasters music festival in Newquay on Friday 9 August, which left a small number of attendees injured.
“The injured parties are currently being treated on-site by medical staff or have been taken to hospital to be checked over. None of the injuries are considered serious.
“This is an isolated incident and the festival continues.”
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— Devon & Cornwall Police (@DC_Police) August 9, 2024
In a statement, the festival organisers also said there were no reports of serious injuries and the planned set by DJ and producer Sammy Virji was cancelled.
Boardmasters said: “We can confirm that Sammy Virji’s set was cancelled and that The Point stage was closed to allow onsite teams to respond to an incident in the audience.
“No serious injuries have been reported and the pit and medical teams immediately assisted those involved. Safety is our number one priority and we thank Sammy and our audience for their understanding.
“All other stages have been unaffected and performances continue as planned.”
Virji said he was “gutted” about his set being cancelled but “safety should always come first”.
In a post on his Instagram, he said: “I’m incredibly gutted about the stage cancellation for Boardmasters, whilst I’m absolutely honoured at the amount of people who turned up, crowd surges can be very serious and safety should always come first.
“The stoppage was completely out of my hands and hope you all understand the festival needed to prioritise everyone’s wellbeing. Hopefully catch you all soon at another set.”
