GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL organiser MICHAEL EAVIS has revealed he could be fined up to £20,000 for the alleged overcrowding by 100,000 people at this year’s Festival.
He was proposing to give the festival a year off in 2001 – saying he was “planning to lie low, get married and stuff” but has now vowed to fight on because of the threatened legal action for alleged breach of licence by local authority Mendip District Council.
Speaking to NME.COM last week, he said: “We were due for a year off. We usually do four, then have the next one off. But I’ve just got my head into a fight and I love it really. I just want to fight the authorities and make it happen next year.
“If they’d left me alone, we might have had a year off! I’m a stubborn bugger,” he laughed.
“The police and the council are putting up quite a bit of opposition. They want to see a management plan – and I’ve been managing this thing for 30 years. People come because they enjoy it so much, because it’s managed so well. I’m just being made a scapegoat for Roskilde.”
“I haven’t had the (magistrates) notice yet; it’s up to the Chief Executive to make that decision, but I think he will go ahead with it though. It’s just a charade really, ‘cos they think that otherwise they think they’ve got no control (over it).
“People really do have to come in properly, officially and legitimately, not only for health and safety but to cover the cost. This new fence is costing me a £1million to rent, put it up and take it down again.”
Eavis assured NME.COM that the magistrates had always been reasonable with him, so he hoped they wouldn’t hit him with the full fine.
As for the bill next year, he declined to confirm any names.
He also declined to name his future wife. Eavis’ last wife Jean died after a battle with cancer in 1999.