Y Not: disabled Derbyshire festival-goers "treated as second class"

Festival organisers have accepted that they “fell short” in their provision for customers with accessibility needs.

Mog Green, and her partner Sean Creegan, have regularly attended the Pikehall festival since 2012 and travelled from London to attend it this year.

Sean has utilised Y Not’s access facilities since 2018 and the pair told the Derbyshire Times that they had always had ‘fantastic’ experiences until this year.

Among the issues cited were the fact that live-in vehicle field, for access customers, was now a half a mile away from the main arena, accessible toilets were late in arriving, the fact there was no direct access from the disabled camping / live-in area to the main arena, and a ban on camping chairs.

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Mog said: “Everybody was impacted this year - it was just one person that had a bit of a rough time: these were things that impacted on everybody.

“It feels as though they forgot about their access customers. If you were speaking to (Sean) he would say that he was treated as second-class and he would probably say that using a lot of swear words. (Access customers) were just dismissed and the VIPs and glampers were prioritised over the needs of disabled customers.

“We know people who just packed up and left after they arrived because they simply wouldn’t have been able to cope at all.”

Confirming they wouldn’t return, Mog added: “Why would we go somewhere where we’re not going to be treated right even though it’s somewhere we’ve enjoyed for years.”

They are not the only customers to raise concerns over this year’s festival. As reported, a family given free tickets to the festival following a disastrous experience in 2022 also vowed never to return as organisers ‘failed to learn from their failures to support disabled access’.

Ray Miller said: “We left on Saturday as there was no point being there. We’d paid about £800 for our original tickets, but all we were able to do is sit outside our van. There was no point in being there. We’d never go again. I just don’t think it’s fair to other people who will be in even worse positions that we are. It’s ridiculous.”

Y Not referred the Derbyshire Times to a previously issued statement: “We acknowledge that we fell short in some areas of our provision for customers with accessibility needs this year and we are responding to those who have raised issues with us directly.

“There was a change in site layout which should have been communicated better before the festival and the late delivery of toilets from another event, including those for access customers, delayed installation and servicing around the site. We worked hard throughout the weekend to catch up but, as we said in our social media post on Sunday night, it wasn’t enough.

“Our policy with regards to festival goers not taking their own chairs into the arena is primarily in place for health and safety reasons. However we will review this in relation to access customers, along with our other arrangements, to ensure a more accessible and enjoyable experience for everyone next year.”