Glastonbury 2009: Locals lose out on free tickets

Glastonbury festival organisers have provoked the wrath of local residents by reducing the size of the catchment area for free tickets.

Festival organiser Michael Eavis has kept on good terms with residents of Pilton, Pill and Sticklynch, three tiny villages near the site, by handing out free passes to compensate for the noise and disruption caused by 200,000 people descending on the area.

This year, posters have been displayed showing redrawn borders, potentially forcing hundreds of people to pay for their own tickets. Those living outside the boundaries will only be permitted free entry for Sunday’s performances, according to the Independent.

One local resident, who did not want to be named, complained: “For most of us who live within the boundary, the festival impacts on us in one way or another – in my case it’s the traffic. If you get a free ticket, you turn a blind eye to it, because you’ve got a week or so of having a good time. Normally you feel quite benign about it all. But if you don’t get a free ticket, you don’t feel quite so benign.”

She continued: “My particular road is used as a rat run. From Wednesday night, there is a constant stream of caravans and campervans going through. Normally it’s OK because you think, ‘that’s great, they’re all part of what I’m part of. But that changes if you’re suddenly having to pay a lot of money. It’s tricky because we’re all locals and we don’t want to fall out. But on the other hand, we feel quite strongly about it.”

Organisers said those affected can use their free Sunday pass to claim £60 off the price of a weekend ticket. Eavis defended the move, saying: “Our relationship with the villagers has always been extremely good, but this year there was a slight change to the boundary for free tickets, which is now slightly smaller. As a result, a small percentage of people who have in the past got free tickets are now being offered the option of Sunday tickets. Glastonbury festival is constantly changing and evolving. I don’t know any other festival or major event that looks after people who live locally as well as we do, and the majority of people will remain unaffected.”

Glastonbury 2009 takes place from 26-28 June and will be headlined by Blur, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young.

Source: The Guardian