A disabled woman who visited this year’s Download Festival has shared her heartbreak after having to leave after 24 hours due to the conditions of the event. Die-hard rock fan Koren Miller explained that she was appalled by the “extremely poor” conditions.
The 31-year-old had visited the rock festival at Donnington Park for the past six years as a non-accessible campsite user. However, with a worsening health condition, which has affected her ability to walk long distances, among other things, she decided to use the accessible campsite this year for the first time, reports Derbyshire Live.
Koren was let down by her experience at the music event after the information about the campsite promised so much that didn’t take place, despite being aware that the previous accessible camping facilities at Download had won awards.
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Koren said: "I went into the experience with so much optimism but it went wrong almost from the start. We arrived at about 11am on Wednesday but no one on the gates was able to direct us to the accessible car park and we were eventually directed to a car park which was much further out and we had to walk in.
"The next thing was to obtain wristbands but while I could get mine, my personal assistant was only given a green lanyard which would not get them into any of the places on the site I would be going. We were directed to the transport hub to enable us to get to the campsite but had to wait five hours in the blistering heat because there were only two buggies in use.
"It was 7.30pm before we got to the campsite and we had to walk a large part of the way from where we were dropped on a really bad surface that would have been awful for anyone in a wheelchair. Fatigue issues had really set in by the time we had put the tent up."
But she added that the situation only got worse as there were no food vendors around. Koren continued: “The nearest ones were too far away and so went to bed without eating. But that wasn't before I needed to use the toilet which was blocked and full to the brim and overflowing with waste. You couldn't even sit down on it because it was overflowing. There were no sanitary bins either.
"As I also have a bowel problem, this was not a good situation to be in, and by Thursday I was in so much pain that I couldn't stay and we went home to Milton Keynes - crying my eyes out with disappointment also. One of the main problems was that there were hardly any people available to steward the areas and those that did could not help.
"I think that having an extra day for the 20th-anniversary celebrations brought in too many people and the festival just couldn't cope. I feel the organisers got greedy but did not pay enough attention to people's comfort."
Koren has complained to Download and although she would love to get her money back, more than anything she wants the organisers to know just how badly disabled people were treated and forgotten and she hopes it will help them to improve for the future.
She added: "I so wanted to see Evanescence, Pendulum, Metallica and Slipknot, in fact, I had identified 31 bands I wanted to see, and I couldn't stop crying knowing I was missing it all. It only feels better now because I know the festival is finished and I am no longer missing anything.”
A number of other people who were also left disappointed with the accessible campsite and facilities for disabled people generally, have taken to social media to share their experience.
One said: "People, in particular with the disabled access and general accessibility, have been left feeling abandoned and struggling to get anywhere around the event site at all. Stewards abandoning the people they were there to help and not providing any real assistance to anyone who needed it."
Another disabled fan commented: "Lack of accessible toilets, no grab rails, camping on gravel, staff aren't aware of basic information. It's my third year here and it's the worst by far."
A third comment said: "My friend saw someone collapse in the heat at the village waiting for the shuttle for like three hours. It's disgusting." Someone who had trouble getting around the site added: "The duckboards were non-existent, and those that did exist fell short of dropped curbs. I couldn’t get my walker across the field from the car park, and we spent over two hours trying to get our wristbands and personal assistant pass. We were left to stand in full sun, with no toilets and no communication."
Derbyshire Live approached the Download organisers for a comment and received this statement: "Download Festival received complaints from customers regarding access on-site. We take these matters very seriously and the relevant teams are working to resolve these with customers. We are not at liberty to discuss individual cases."
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