WOMAD

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  Just to make it clear at the start of this post, lots of teenagers behaved really well in the festival, and looked like they were having a great time. However, the problems I encountered with anti social behaviour did all come from this age group. This is the email I sent to the organisers.

  Dear Womad organizers

  I have attended the womad festival for the last 5 years in a row and had a really great time every year until this one, and I would like you to investigate my complaint about anti social behaviour, the way it was handled and what can be done about it at future festivals.

  I camped with 3 female friends in Purple Zone, quite near to the fire tower and not too far from the showers (maybe 200/300 metres or so). We had the misfortune to camp next to a large group of lads of around 17/18 who behaved anti socially and threateningly for the entire duration of our stay. They included Oscar, Adam, Ben, Jake or Jason amongst others. You will have had other complaints about them during the festival, and possibly other written ones afterwards.

  On the Friday night we’d been out in the arena enjoying the music all day, and returned to our tents around midnight to go to bed. After trying to sleep for around 1 / 1 and a half hours I stuck my head out of the tent and politely asked the lads to keep the noise down a bit as I was trying to sleep. They were drunk and shouting a lot throughout the evening. They were quite aggressive saying “it’s a fucking festival what do you expect.” I said it was a family festival, not like Reading or Glastonbury, and I expected to be able to sleep. I tried to sleep for another 30 mins or so and asked them to be quiet again, politely again. They ignored this so after a while longer I went to the fire tower and explained my problem to the steward, Sarah, and asked if she was able to do anything about it. It was about 2 or 2.30 am by this time. Sarah came over and I got back into my tent and I heard her asking the lads politely to keep the noise down. They were quite inappropriate towards her, saying “oh, lovely Sarah come and have a drink with us” and generally trying to chat her up and avoid the request. After they assured her that they would be quiet, she left, and they then continued talking really loudly, this time being extremely abusive towards me, saying they were going to bang on the door of my tent and “give her one”, threatening to “piss” and “giz” on my tent, and I got quite scared. After continuing trying to sleep I realized that one of the boys was weeing on my tent, so I went back to the fire tower and asked for security. 2 security guards were there so I explained the events of the evening and returned to the tents with them. I knew that the boy who weeed on my tent was called Adam as several of the others had been saying “go on give her one from me Adam.” When we returned to the tents, the boys had jumped into their tents to hide. The security guard got Adam out of his tent and told him off for his behaviour. He then sent him back to bed and I then went to sleep, well after 3 am.

  On the Saturday night, the boys were again very noisy, and again quite threatening. When I arrived back at the tent at around 1 am from the arena with my friends, they started shouting “sex” at us. They continued to drink and make a noise, disturbing us until 5 am. After trying to sleep for a while, I went to the fire tower to ask for support in keeping the noise down as I no longer wanted to confront them myself. A female steward came over to the tents and spoke to the lads. They once again agreed to be quiet, then after she’d gone one of them masturbated standing right outside my tent, dropping the condom he’d used on the floor right by the edge of my tent. I went back to the tower once again after this event. The male steward there told me to tell the police, and he pointed out 2 policemen walking up the road. I told the police about the events of the previous night, and the noise, and we agreed they would follow me back to my tent and then come back and speak to the boys. They followed me and I pointed out the tents but I didn’t hear them speak to the lads, and the boys continued to talk and shout loudly until 5 am when it started to get light. They were talking about how one of them had been deliberately urinating on people in the main arena when they were watching music. They were talking about complaints that other people on the campsite had made against them and basically said what are they going to do, nothing, we can do what we like. They started talking about making plans for an ‘attack’ on the last night, which had something to do with a large volume of urine.

  On the last night, around 12.30 at night we saw our neighbours running at top speed through the arena shouting at the tops of their voices, on a very drunken rampage, and causing people to have to move out of the way very quickly. my friends and I chatted about what to do, as we were really worried about what their behaviour would be like on their return, and decided to alert everyone we could think of before something else happened, and to try and locate the urine that one friend had seen them collecting by urinating into a large water carrier in the afternoon and dispose of it. So we went to the fire tower on the way back to our tents and asked where the main security headquarters were in the festival so that we could go and alert the security guards. The steward was unsure where this was but directed us to the information point. We explained a little about the ongoing issues but said we really needed to talk to someone senior as it was clear that the situation was escalating and we were all feeling extremely vulnerable and threatened. We went to the information point, couldn’t see any security headquarters but saw the welfare tent and went in there. A man came out and we asked again where the security headquarters were. He asked us why we wanted to know so we explained about the extreme level of anti social behaviour, the public urinating, public masturbating, the noise and mess and the abusive threatening behaviour towards us. He said that we should go and talk to the police, whose headquarters we could see nearby, and I think he said he would let the security guards know on the radio so they could keep an eye on the area. We pointed out where our tents were on a map and went to the police. We started to explain the situation and they said we needed to speak to security not the police. I was getting frustrated by then as this was the third person in the third place we were explaining the problems to, and not getting any help. I explained about all the lads behaviours, again, some of which are in fact criminal and not merely drunken fun got out of control, explained whereabouts our tents were and they said that police would be patrolling the area for the evening. They were telling me to go to the fire tower and report any problem behaviours. I stated that I was worried about doing this because complaining clearly agonized them and caused reprisals. I asked if they had an on site phone number and they said no, if I was too worried to leave my tent I should call 999. I did not do this as I suspect that if you say I’m in a field somewhere in a festival to a 999 operator, they may choose not to take you seriously.

  We didn’t think we could do anything else, as we had alerted the fire tower, the welfare tent, the police, and no one was able to tell us how to locate the security guards to speak to so we decided to return to our tents. On the way back I walked through the lads camp and found a massive water carrier full of urine. By massive, I mean it was difficult to pick up and completely full. I went and emptied this as far away from anyone’s tent as I could and put the container in a bin liner. We then tried to go to bed. An hour or so later, our delightful neighbours returned, this time shouting “rohypnol” at our tents. After a while of trying to sleep, one of my friends got up and very politely and calmly asked them to be quiet, as they were once again shouting. I had given up expecting to sleep before dawn, or wanting to confront the boys as it would clearly aggravate them and cause them to do something else, so I had decided to quietly pack up my things inside my tent. I did stick my head out to check she was ok, but didn’t speak to the boys. I tried going to sleep but was basically too worried about what they might do to one of us to fall asleep, as it was clear that some of the group had absolutely no boundaries. I heard the girls in a tent nearby repeatedly saying “what the fuck are you doing?” to a man outside her tent, but I didn’t click that they were talking to one of our neighbours until a little later. I heard one of these boys moving around my tent twice, and stuck my head out each time, but he quickly ran back to his tent. I didn’t want to leave my tent as I knew it would cause massive reprisals so I was fretting about what to do. I had neither seen nor heard ANY security at all, police or stewards, walking around the purple campsite asking people to be quiet or keeping an eye on anyone at all, despite the requests we had made to the fire tower, the welfare tent to pass on to the stewards, and the police.

  At around 4 am I heard a boy say “I’m going to giz on a tent.” I listened carefully, and then heard the voices quite near, a boy again saying “I’m going to giz on a tent, which tent shall I pick?” it was 2 of our neighbours wandering around between my tent and another girl’s nearby pink tent. I woke up my friends to keep an eye on the boys and the tents, and went to the fire tower yet again. I saw the boys quickly run back into their camp as they saw me walk towards the stewards. I started talking to the steward who indicated behind me and I saw a patrol car with 5 stewards sitting inside it. I started explaining what was happening and they seemed to think they could drive me there, which confused me as we’d pitched away from the path. 3 got out and came with me and the boys had once again all decided conveniently to go to bed. I indicated adam’s tent but when they got out I realized I couldn’t pick out which two of our neighbours had been walking around threatening to masturbate as it had been too dark, so I said that they should confess who it was and the security guards said they should confess who it was or they’d all be chucked out. I explained about the large amount of noise, urine, mess and abusive behaviour and the security guards seemed happy to chuck out all of the lads who were there, with the exception of two who were asleep with girls in different tents, and we assumed had not been involved. So the security guards stayed to evict them, which at last put my mind at rest with about 3 hours left of the festival, and the security guards themselves were reassuring, saying I could go to bed and they would stay and watch the boys take the tents down.

  One of the security guards at this point, who seemed to be quite senior said “why didn’t you complain earlier?” I did ask for his name but he didn’t tell me.

  Now as you can see from the above, I had complained a total of 8 times at this point over the weekend, each time describing the exact behaviours that our small group of well behaved festival goers were facing. I am really shocked that the organization and communication between the different levels of fire tower stewards, security officers, welfare and police was so poor and so unclear to some of these people as well as to myself that a complaint from women facing and fearing sexually aggressive behaviour was not dealt with effectively earlier on in the festival, and we had to keep on asking for help. Ironically, the ONLY time that I saw anyone patrolling the actual campsite on foot was the very first night (Thursday) when I and my friends noticed 2 men in jeans and black hoodies who averted their eyes from our gaze and changed direction when they saw us. We thought they were acting suspiciously and alerted the fire tower, only to discover the next morning that they in fact were undercover police.

  The lack of communication and organization amongst the womad security staff led to a totally unacceptable situation for us, where we faced abusive and threatening behaviour every night, and it really affected my enjoyment of the festival as obviously I was returning to my tent really worried about what the boys would do. I also know that a group of people camped in front of us complained at least twice and the people behind us complained as well. I don’t know why the sheer volume of complaints wasn’t enough to do something about the situation earlier. I can only assume that there was no adequate system for passing around information appropriately and quickly. Certainly, the purple zone was full of noise and shouting all night on the last night, and it was clear that security and police didn’t want to walk around and ask people to turn it down a bit – the teens who were behaving in an anti social way were able to do exactly as they liked.

  I would like to hear a response from you about how you can improve these problems in future, otherwise I will need to stop attending womad as I won’t feel safe.

  I think that what has happened in part is a change in demographic as the dance tent and djs have attracted a large number of teenagers to the festival. Some are obviously lovely and well behaved, but others are behaving really badly and totally changing the atmosphere of what used to be a really lovely festival. If you want to stick with the late night disco/dance tent with djs (which personally I’d love to see go as I think that’s the source of the problem as a high proportion of the undesirable anti social festival goers seem to spend a large amount of time in that tent) then you need to plan effectively for a different kind of behaviour from a different age group of festival goers. I think that the lads were local, possibly from Malmesbury as they talked about getting a taxi home when they were evicted so I guess they got cheap or free tickets. If a lot of local teens are getting these tickets then a proportion of them are behaving really badly maybe this needs rethinking and something else could be done for the local community. Certainly, there needs to be clear information about what to do if you are faced with anti social behaviour, who to inform, and what actions will be taken, as this was all really unclear. The stewards and the police need to patrol the noisy and messy areas on foot and insist that people quieten down and tidy up after themselves, or insist on evicting those that don’t as there were serious problems with mess (some clearly didn’t tidy up any rubbish at all for the entire weekend) and noise (and I mean shouting really loudly, until 5 am every night) from a significant section of the purple zone, again, something I have not witnessed before in my 5 years of going to womad. There needs to be a clear set of rules and consequences for people not following those rules. If you are going to stick with the dreaded dance tent, maybe you need to create another camping area for teens, and/or a quiet zone for adults who don’t want to be disturbed but don’t want a baby waking them up in the family camping zone. Our neighbours did not see any of the world music at all, but went into the festival late in the evening to go to the dance tent and djs, came back and got really drunk until 5 or 6, got up for breakfast and more shouting of obscenities, slept all day and then started the cycle again. Even had they not been extremely anti social, these needs are not really compatible with people who want to get up in the morning, watch the world music acts from midday til midnight and then get their 8 hours kip between midnight and 8 am. So I do think this needs considering as well as the anti social behaviour. Maybe there could be an influx of security onto the campsite when the bands finish, and when the dance tent shuts, to manage people’s return to their tents and encourage quieter behaviour, as well as different camping areas.

  It was specifically some local teens who were behaving anti socially ( I talked to one man who repitched, despite making complaints to the stewards, as after he asked his neighbours to be quiet they threw lots of beer cans and rubbish at his tent and threatened to get eggs and flour and totally wreck it. These people were also local teenagers from Malmesbury). There was another problem with families buying tickets for their family, camping in the family camping area but dumping their teens in a group far away so that they didn’t have to deal with the noise and mess. Whilst I can see that 17 year olds don’t want to camp with mum and dad, under 16s should be legally guarded by an adult, and they should not be allowed to camp separately and again this could be made clear in the festival rules.

  Thank you for reading this far. I realize this is extremely detailed, but because I felt so threatened it really spoiled my enjoyment of a festival that is usually one of the highlights of my year, and I wanted to share exactly what had happened so that you can be aware of the problems and act on them. All the individuals working at Womad that I came across were nice and helpful people but there clearly was no effective system in place for managing the problems that arose this year. I would like to hear from you about all the different issues – communication between the different levels of security, rules about anti social behaviour including noise and mess, sharing information such what security can and can’t do about anti social behaviour, the influx of noisy and messy teens due to the dance tent and how this can be managed so that everyone can enjoy the festival.

  Posted on 28-Jul-2010 12:27pm by Little Miss Sunshine

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  Hear hear. I was camped near you and this dreaded group and I admire your efforts and persistence, which eventually paid off at 4 a.m. on Monday morning. By then this group had made it impossible for all around to sleep for three and a half nights though.
  I came to the festival for the music, which was wonderful, but I have had to perk myself up with coffee and energy drinks all day long, because four hours of intermittent sleep per night is just not enough for me. The guys were at it again from 07:30 a.m. so even getting a bit of sleep in the morning wasn't possible.
  I am a festival veteran. I have never encountered this kind of behaviour in Glastonbury and I have even slept better at Roskilde. It really put a damper on an otherwise great weekend.

  Posted on 28-Jul-2010 12:39pm by Watergirl

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  A dreadful experience, Little Miss Sunshine, and I really admire the way you handled it: I certainly don't have the mettle to leave my tent to address these situations.

  One thing I noticed when I went to the police to see if my flag had ended up with them was that their map of the site wasn't the same as our site map. According to my site map, we were camped right by the pod pads and tipis area in Red camping (presumably giving rise to the "Red Army" - anyone hear that?) but this was marked as Purple camping on the police map. A small point, perhaps, but if you are under threat, needing help and trying to give someone your location, it could make a huge difference....

  Little Miss Sunshine, would you post the response you receive on this thread, please?

  
  

  Posted on 28-Jul-2010 12:55pm by Standing Stone

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  Little Miss Sunshine, I am absolutely appalled having read your post. This behavious is totally unacceptable anywhere. The "it's a festival" response just doesn't wash in these circumstances. Yes we were all young once, and I'm sure some of my behaviour at that age would have been frowned upon, but the degree of anti-socialness is way out of line. I've made the comment on another thread that much of the behaviour witnessed over the last weekend reflects our binge culture society, and is sadly no different to that seen in any town centre on a weekend night, but that doesn't excuse it or make it acceptable.

  The teen element has significantly increased over the last few years, and their behaviour has sadly deteriorated. Unfortunately from the posts on this forum, these are not just a couple of isolated incidents. Womad need to address this issue for the future, otherwise true music lovers will be put off from attending, and those who do go could find their weekends ruined. At this rate, the Purple Zone will become a no go area for all those over 20 who do not want to stay up all night partying.

  I'm quite sure these lads don't behave like this at home. Rather than leave them to make their own way, security or the police should have contacted their parents to collect them, explaining fully the reasons for their evictions. Sadly their parents are probably none the wiser about the antics of their "little angels".

  Posted on 28-Jul-2010 1:01pm by PJV

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  Little Miss Sunshine - I suggest that you print off this letter and formally send it to the address below as I think you are unlikely to get the reply youi deserve on the forum, though I have little doubt your post will have been read.

  Box Mill, Mill Lane, BOX, Wiltshire, SN13 8PL

  Womad also have a contact point via the website but your letter may be too long for this

  http://realworld.co.uk/contact/

  
  Sounds like you had a difficult time to cope with and without the support you deserevd!
  

  Posted on 28-Jul-2010 1:01pm by Redleg

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  Sounds like a nightmare for you little miss sunshine. Lots of other people have posted their own experiences in the 'Ignorant yoof' thread on here, including myself. We were unfortunate to get the treatment last year so unless Womad listen and do something it will probably continue.
  Your suggestion of a 'party camping zone' seems to be the most popular and non-agressive suggestion for dealing with this...in fact I made the same suggestion in the 'yoof' thread along with others. Looking at the site map and Google Earth there is an open field right behind the main stage which would suit the purpose nicely. It's even possible that the 'ignorant yoof' may then listen to the wonderful music on offer and become responsible Womadders of the future....everybody down on your knees for a quick prayer please.

  Posted on 28-Jul-2010 1:35pm by Mickey2Bagz

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  Little Miss Sunshine - I am truly appalled at what I have read. A big up to you for being so persistent in contacting Stewards, Security and Police regarding the problems you experienced.

  There is obviously no means of logging information and reports of bad behaviour, otherwise the continuing abuse received by you and others would have been flagged earlier and something would (or should) have been done. I sincerely hope that WOMAD listen to yours, and others, complaints, this behaviour needs to be nipped in the bud the minute it starts.

  I would tend to agree with you regarding the Dance/Disco tent. I've been going to WOMADs every year since 1989. In the last few years at Reading I saw the behaviour of a minority of attendees deteriorate (particularly in the late evening) and, to me, it seemed to coincide with the increase of 'Club' type music bringing in certain undesirables. I commented about this in these very forums and got slated for it.

  I personally did not experience any serious problems, but on a couple of occasions I was almost knocked over by youths barging their way to the front of a stage. The timing, on each occasion, coincided with the end of a performance of Dance/DJ music in the Red Tent. On one of these occasions the people concerned realised they didn't like what they heard and barged back out, nearly knocking me over again.
  Thankfully the majority of teenagers behaved very well, in fact it was a teenager that stopped me going flying one the first occasion of 'barging'. It is only the minority that are causing problems at the moment, but unless it is nipped in the bud it is a problem that will grow.

  Posted on 28-Jul-2010 1:52pm by Trebor

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  Little Miss Sunshine - I am truly appalled at what I have read. A big up to you for being so persistent in contacting Stewards, Security and Police regarding the problems you experienced.

  There is obviously no means of logging information and reports of bad behaviour, otherwise the continuing abuse received by you and others would have been flagged earlier and something would (or should) have been done. I sincerely hope that WOMAD listen to yours, and others, complaints, this behaviour needs to be nipped in the bud the minute it starts.

  I would tend to agree with you regarding the Dance/Disco tent. I've been going to WOMADs every year since 1989. In the last few years at Reading I saw the behaviour of a minority of attendees deteriorate (particularly in the late evening) and, to me, it seemed to coincide with the increase of 'Club' type music bringing in certain undesirables. I commented about this in these very forums and got slated for it.

  I personally did not experience any serious problems, but on a couple of occasions I was almost knocked over by youths barging their way to the front of a stage. The timing, on each occasion, coincided with the end of a performance of Dance/DJ music in the Red Tent. On one of these occasions the people concerned realised they didn't like what they heard and barged back out, nearly knocking me over again.
  Thankfully the majority of teenagers behaved very well, in fact it was a teenager that stopped me going flying one the first occasion of 'barging'. It is only the minority that are causing problems at the moment, but unless it is nipped in the bud it is a problem that will grow.

  Posted on 28-Jul-2010 1:52pm by Trebor

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  Oops, apologies for the double post, my browser had a problem when I posted, hitting the back button caused it to repost

  Posted on 28-Jul-2010 1:55pm by Trebor

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  I sympathise LMS, I don't know how you stood it : why didn't you pack your tent & move to another pitch ?

  Posted on 28-Jul-2010 2:58pm by Boatmanbirdtoo

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