A disgruntled music fan said they'd been stuck in a three-and-a-half hour traffic jam on their way to Download Festival at Donington Park. The fan, who'd travelled to the annual festival from Leeds, said they'd been trapped in a jam near the A453, just off the M1, by the Moto services, reports Yorkshire Live.
Speaking earlier on Wednesday (June 7), the man, who asked not to be named, said: “I'm sitting in standstill traffic near Download Festival. The jam started at 10.50am on the M1 at J24 [for Kegworth] and I've managed to do 1.1 miles in three and a half hours and I'm still not at the festival site.
“It's chaos. There are people driving the wrong way up roundabouts and people wandering along the dual carriageway peeing openly. It's like they haven't planned for anyone coming by car at all.
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“I’ve been doing Download for 10 years and it's by far the worst I've seen it. They've put an extra day of music on this year but kept the five-day entry day the same as before so all 120,000 people are turning up at once."
The campsites and campervan field for the rock festival opened at 12noon on Wednesday (June 7), with the entertainment taking place between Thursday, June 8, and Sunday, June 11.
Highways bosses have warned of severe congestion on all approaches to the festival, with delays on the northbound and southbound carriageways of the A453 approaching the roundabout for junction 24 of the M1, the A42 northbound and the M1 northbound between junction 23 to junction 24.
People heading to the festival, and to the nearby East Midlands Airport, have been told to allow extra time for their journeys.
In a statement, National Highways said: "We're dispatching extra traffic officer patrols and have worked with the event organisers to keep the roads moving as smoothly as possible. However, there are currently severe delays of at least two hours above usual journey times on the following roads:
- A453 southbound between the A52 (Clifton) and the M1 J24/A50 (East Midlands Airport).
- A453 northbound between the M1 J23A/A42 (East Midlands Airport) and the M1 J24/A50 (East Midlands Airport).
- The link road from M1 J23A to A453 northbound (East Midlands Airport).
- M1 J24 northbound exit
"There are also delays of at least 30 minutes above usual journey times on the following roads:
- A42 northbound between the B5006 (Ashby-de-la-Zouch) and the A453 (Tonge).
- M1 southbound J25 to J24.
- M1 northbound between J23 and J23A.
"Once off the motorways or major A roads listed above there is also several miles of congestion, which is expected to further severely delay journeys towards the Festival." All of the surrounding roads are expected to remain busy throughout the day.
This year, in celebration of the festival’s 20th anniversary, an extra day of music has been added to the line-up and it’s a sell out. It also means most are arriving on Wednesday, rather than arrivals spread out over the course of the next two days on a five-day ticket.
Follow our live Download traffic blog for updates.
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