Traffic delays near festival site

Living opposite the car parking fields.The gravel we expected to be in situ on the main drag parts of the fields to prevent churned mud and wheel spinning was not in place even though weather forecasts promised lots of rain! As "Glastonbury veterans" We watched as predictably CAOS prevailed.
How totally irresponsible to penny pinch on the basic pre-festival preparations. SHAME on you MR Giddens! I was amused at Mr Giddens attempt to exonerate him self on I.O.W radio saying he had put gravel down and other than tarmac there was nothing else he could do as there was so much rain. He failed to be honest! By failing to mention that NO gravel was put ANYWHERE until after CHAOS! erupted. Mr Giddens get a boy scout to help you next time to "BE PREPARED! "

Can Giddings explain why myself and the other carers could not get to our vulnerable elderly clients who rely on us for food and drink also personal care 4 times a day also one of these clients at the end of life and needed us at her home to care for her and cares could not get to her for hours. Did he at anytime thick about these elderly people on the island who need care 24 hours a day and how many of them suffered because of poor organisation of this festival.

(cont) at shcool for hours because their buses didn't turn up. What about the doctors and nurses trying to get to work to treat their patiets stuck in traffic for hours. More than just a bit of inconvenience I think don't you?

@ Stuart Woods its not festival hatred moaning and yes we know its only a few days inconvenience. But its git out of hand thus year. Why should we be stopped from going about our daily business because of the festival it shouldn't impact on our lives that badly. Read the comment below someone has to get to hospital for chemo I think that's a little more than a bit of inconvenience don't you. Also what about the school kids who missed their exam yesterday and those who were left at school

my Mum has to have Chemo this morning at St Mary's. She lives on Cowes Road, Newport. Anybody know how the traffic is there?

I live in Wootton, Yesterday I could'nt get out to Newport. Its 7am Friday and the traffic is backed up to the Cedars Pub.
My wife is walking to where she dumped the car yeasterday at 9.00pm,,Butterfly World,,because the road was at a standstill for an hour.
At 12.30 midnight the cars were still queueing on Wootton High St.
I was told by a guy his mates tent had blown away because the ground was so soft the pegs would'nt hold.
The festival is a GOOD thing,,,but the organisers with the help of the council have done it on the cheap as usual.
There should be a road made from the Whippingham road straight into the site to clear the Red Funnel traffic...NOT all the traffic from Fishbourne and East Cowes Terminals coming together on ONE road...MADNESS and cheap thinking.

The festival (so far) has never inconvenienced me personally. Previous years I haven't seen any major problems... certainly not on the scale of today and it's only day 1. But I must admit to being surprised at the council agreeing to increasing the capacity to 90,000 at the present location. I was one of many people who said the Island doesn't have the infrastructure for such numbers and today (Thursday), I have been proved right. The ingredient which has apparently caught the organisers out (even though it was forecast) was rain. Now i'm far from being a brain of Britain but I reckon I could work out what was going to happen when thousands of cars were going to come into contact with grassy fields. Mother nature has simply proven that the increased capacity is totally unworkable and unfortunately not only local people have been prevented from going about their lawful business today, but festival goers have themselves have experienced severe delays causing them to miss the opening acts

cont:- red dust kicked up were some of the reasons which brought closure, not excessive traffic or mud and wet. Finally, come the end of summer, it will be the Bestival`s turn to bring missery to the busy commute route through Downend with slick mud on the highway `till the depth of the winter months, as in the past.

Oh you people do like a moan, I know its bad and something has gone horribly wrong this year but its a couple of days inconvenience for a great event being brought to the island. The festival haters need to stop being so selfish, I think its great that this god forsaken island gets to see a few people and a bit of life once a year!

I seem to remember the festival organisers recently requested to raise the number of people allowed to attend this event for the near future. Question is, would this be an appropiate application, considering the annual dissruption we all suffer ? For one, Thursday,I wanted to travel day return from Fishbourne, but my homeward fare on all, pm. sailings for a car was some 4 times the outbound fare ! Needless to say, I didn`t suffer the traffic delay or the financial fleecing. Secondly, if this event is so "good" for the Island, and the event evolving in size, will the festival organiser, or our local authority, be brave enough to publicly publish a spread sheet to show exactly who are the benificiaries of this event ? [Footnote, I saw plenty of fast food vehicles arriving from the mainland during Wednesday, pm.] Thirdly, and sadly, a few years ago a very successfully run, International motorcycle event at Gore Cross was stopped. Some engine noise and red dust kicked up

Any views or opinions presented in the comments above are solely those of the author and do not represent those of the Isle of Wight County Press.