Boardmasters are bringing in enhanced security measures for next year’s festival after a crowd crush took place at this summer’s event.
The “massive” crowd surge at the Newquay festival on August 9 “left a small number of attendees injured” and a DJ set was cancelled as a result. The festival later confirmed that seven festivalgoers had to be taken to hospital and the council launched a formal investigation into what happened.
It was described by police at the time as an “isolated incident”, and it was confirmed that “none of the injuries [were] considered serious”.
A teenager later told Sky News that he was pushed to the floor by the surge – “There were people on top of me, and I was on top of other people,” he said.
One woman who attended the festival with her daughters described the “carnage” she saw, saying: “There were kids everywhere. There were kids crying, there were kids holding their legs, there were kids being carried.”
Notably, the incident occurred after Boardmasters got permission to increase its capacity by thousands this year, bringing the attendance to an estimated 58,000 people.
Now, Boardmasters has confirmed in a Facebook post that next year’s event, taking place from August 6-10, 2025, will have security personnel in “crowd and behaviour management positions” increased by 20 per cent.
Hey Boardies Crew, we want to thank you all for your feedback, it’s what helps us make the Boardmasters experience…
Posted by Boardmasters on Tuesday, November 5, 2024
In addition, there will be 25 more entry lanes to allow deeper searches of visitors’ belongings, 25 per cent more watchtowers manned 24 hours a day, and a 50 per cent increase in high-visibility security patrols day and night.
The festival have also brought in numerous other changes based on feedback from attendees, including an increase in the number of Wi-Fi hotspots in both the arena and campsites and a ‘chilled’ campsite with an 11pm noise curfew. They have added that further updates will be issued in due course.
Next year’s Boardmasters line-up has not yet been confirmed. Stormzy, Chase & Status, Sam Fender and Becky Hill lead the line-up this past summer.
In other news, Devon & Cornwall Police reported that 11 people had been arrested at the festival last year, with charges relating to drug offences, sexual offences and assault.
