Y Not have responded to criticism from festival-goers that they ‘were not prepared’ for this year – especially for the bad weather.
The Derbyshire event was struck by problems this weekend. Bands and headliners pulled out amid ‘safety concerns’ after ‘adverse weather‘, before the heavy rain and poor weather forced the festival to cancel a day early. Chaos then followed as attendees were left ‘stranded’ in car parks with no staff.
YNOT Festival summed up in a picture… pic.twitter.com/muBVBR34xH
— Johnny Robinson (@Johnnyyrobinson) July 29, 2017
A bit of a rant about Ynot festival. (I feel awful for moaning so much but maybe you could learn from it in the future). @Y_Not_Festival pic.twitter.com/xNQhx3377h
— rebecca (@brooklynbeckyx) July 30, 2017
Now however, the festival has claimed that this was not the case.
“We were extremely well prepared for the festival this year,” a Y Not Festival spokesman told NME. “We increased spend by 30% on last year’s event and invested heavily in infrastructure including trackway, traffic management, on-site staff, water, toilets, washing facilities and we had an enhanced police presence.
“Unfortunately due to the extreme weather conditions throughout the weekend we took the difficult decision to cancel the festival on Sunday morning. We share our guests’ frustration and disappointment but ultimately the safety of our guests, performers, and crew was our primary concern and the potential risk was too severe for the event to carry on.”
Y Not added that news and information on ticket refunds will follow shortly.
“@Y_Not_Festival you left people with no way to get out of the car park we had to push others out though over a foot of mud,” one user wrote. “Only help was from a few local farmers with tractors a disgrace.”
“been stuck in the car park @Y_Not_Festival for over three hours with no staff and this as our only signage,” another wrote, adding a picture of a broken sign.
“Why is there no stewards helping cars in the VIP car park?” one asked while another wrote, “spent more time getting out of the car park to leave than actually seeing acts”