Reading Festival boss Melvin Benn was due to meet Reading West MP Martin Salter yesterday (September 25) after Salter called for all camp-fires to be banned at the festival.
The MP had told BBC 6music that he saw the presence of fires at the annual event a serious danger, saying that the festival did not have the sufficient security measures to control all the problems caused by camp-fires.
He talked about “angry mobs running around, stealing other people’s tents and possessions and throwing them on the bonfires to keep the fires burning. It’s a lethal cocktail, drunken young people, fires and insufficient security to deal with the situation.”
He went on to say that although he was critical of the fire-related rules, he was not a critic of the event as a whole. “I am a supporter of the festival, I want it to be a great success,” he said, “but I want it to be a safe event for young people as it always used to be.”
Benn and Salter are yet to reveal the outcome of the meeting.
A large fire broke out at last year’s Reading Festival after fans lost control of a barbeque in a car park.
Watch Reading Festival 2008 camp-fire video footage by clicking below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Pv4FwhVEA&hl=en&fs=1