Download Festival: Council boss warns organisers over traffic problems

A council boss has warned that the Download Festival could be under threat if lessons are not learned from this year's traffic issues.

The rock music festival caused severe congestion on roads around Donington Park in Leicestershire on 7 and 8 June.

Nick Rushton said it was an "absolute disaster" with the worst queues he had seen in the festival's history.

However, he said he was optimistic traffic would be better next year "with a bit of controlling".

Mr Rushton - the leader of Leicestershire County Council - said: "Donington are pretty good operators but they really messed up big time this time.

"Something's got to change for next year otherwise I'll be pressing that the damn thing is cancelled."

This year the festival took place over four days, rather than three - to mark its 20th anniversary.

Roads like the M1, A50 and A453 became blocked with some people saying they queued for more than seven hours to enter the site.

Mr Rushton said it was not just festival-goers that were delayed.

"My lawyer who works in Ashby and lives in Melbourne, a normal 10-minute journey home took her two-and-a-half hours," he said.

"Hundreds of people emailed me from their cars, phoned me from their cars, people trying to get to the airport - 600 people actually missed flights - it was an absolute disaster."

Live Nation Entertainment, the organisers of the festival, agreed the traffic congestion was "unprecedented and not acceptable".

It has launched an investigation to establish what went wrong.

It said it planned for Download to return to its usual format in 2024, with the campsite opening two days before to "spread" the arrival of attendees.

Mr Rushton said: "I think with a bit of controlling and not doing a four-day festival it should be a lot better next year."

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