A Yorkshire man has spoken out about the "toxic" atmosphere at Leeds festival, after witnessing numerous people setting fire to people's tents. Jack Haines, a Hull City councillor, said that he and his friends witnessed "several out of control fires" on the last night of the festival.
The antisocial behaviour has put him off ever returning, with the chaos causing some people to leave the site early on the Sunday. Many festival goers have reported scary experiences, with videos showing tents on fire and people's belongings being trashed.
And some people have since taken to social media to report thefts and other crime. Jack said that, from around 12.30am, the camps "started to deteriorate" with the atmosphere dampening an otherwise fun festival, HullLive reports.
Read more: Leeds Festival like a 'war zone' as 'terrified' music fans flee the site as 'tents burn around them'
He said: "I went to Leeds Fest for the first time when I was at Uni and had a great time there so when it came around again post-Covid, me and a small group of mates thought we’d go along again this year. The weather was perfect the whole time, same for the experience, and there was a really good atmosphere for the majority of the time there. That was prior to the last evening.
"We stayed right out in brown camp about a 20 minute walk from the arena itself, so a fair walk away through most other camps. We’d just finished watching Arctic Monkeys and grabbing something to eat and it was about 12am at this point.
"On the walk back it was clear the whole atmosphere had swiftly shifted on to something more toxic. We saw several out-of-control fires and heard people saying that they just 'wanted to set a tent on fire'. By the time we’d reached our site we thought we’d relax a bit before going to bed and head out the next morning, this was a decision that was quickly changed and definitely the wrong call."
Jack said the group next to him and his friends set a tent on fire right in front of them and asked the group if they "had anything they could use". Jack continues: "It was an overwhelming no from us as we saw more and more blazes come up around us. From around 00.30am onwards the camps really started to deteriorate, with people making haste to leave, or, as has been reported set various items on fire, and not for warmth.
"As a group of young adults in our early 20s, we could see something going horribly wrong and decided to leave as soon as we could. We were met with hundreds of others having the same idea often just abandoning everything they couldn’t carry."
Jack said that he was seeing security do their best to handle the situation, which was quickly getting out of control. He said that they were putting out a "large number" of fires across the camps, but that there was only one fire engine on site.
Jack adds: "Considering the weather, the drought, and the heatwave this only exacerbated the situation. People just wanted to set things on fire, and given the number of flammable resources at their disposal it was not difficult to create an out-of-control fire that left poor marshals dashing to put them out.
"Overall it seemed completely senseless to start all these fires and with Leeds and Reading's strapline of '#NoMusicOnADeadPlanet' there was a sense of irony as well. Smoke was in the air on Sunday night as patches of land got scorched and all ended up on fire.
"The final straw for my group was seeing a flammable bottle being launched onto an already blazing tent close to us. I could see more and more rising up above tents and we decided to stay just wasn’t worth it, in spite of paying £250 for our tickets."
Despite the fires and the trouble, Jack said that he still enjoyed the weekend, but hopes that serious improvements are made before next year. He says: "Looking back I’m happy we made the judgment called to leave at around 2am, as we sat in the gridlocked car park we scrolled through Twitter to see more and more fires starting, which sadly is enough to put any festivalgoer off.
"I can completely see why people wouldn’t want to go again which is a shame considering how good the long weekend is at Leeds and Reading. Next year there need to be serious changes so the same doesn’t happen again so people are kept safe and don’t feel afraid of going to festivals."
West Yorkshire Police said in a statement: "While some reports of antisocial behaviour were received, no reports were made to West Yorkshire Police regarding any serious disorder at the festival during the final night.
"We are aware of sporadic tent fires which were dealt with by fire marshals on site, with persons then ejected. Police assistance was not required."
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