Download Festival under fire after traffic chaos
The man in charge of the Download Festival, which is being held this weekend at Donington Park has issued an apology to motorists who were stuck in hours of traffic jams on Wednesday (June 7).
There was chaos in both directions of the A453 approaching the roundabout with Junction 24 of the M1 and the M1 northbound between Junction 23 and 24 on Wednesday afternoon as tens of thousands of festival-goers tried to reach the site.
John Probyn, festival manager at Download said: “We apologise for the delays for customers coming on site today (Wednesday). We have been working continuously since first reports this morning with the local authority and transport agencies to minimise these delays. We urge road users to ONLY follow the official travel advice.”
The statement was met with anger by some trying to get to Download.
Been travelling since 9. Got in the queue at 3:30pm. That’s 13.5 hours travelling with 7.5 hours queueing.
Plus I’m an access customer and I’m hearing that I can’t even get a wristband on entry?!
This is my 6th Download. Is this how you treat your customers?— Jess (@JessAngelbites) June 7, 2023
On Thursday morning, Download issued the following travel advice:
“For those arriving today from the South on the M1, use Junction 23 and follow the Download signage to the festival.
“For those arriving from the North on the M1, use Junction 24A onto the A50 to Junction 1, then into Trent Lane, Station Road and Broad Rushes (Donington Bypass).
“Those coming from the South via the A42 should use Junction 14 & follow the signage.”
However, the situation hadn’t improved by Thursday evening, with Highways England warning of two-hour delays around the festival site.
SEVERE delays on all approaches to @DownloadFest remain
Delays of at least 2 hours:
#M1 north & south at J23A and J24, J24a#A453 north & south between M1 J23A and M1 J24A#A50 east & west between #A6 and #M1
Allow extra journey time if heading to the area. @EMA_Airport pic.twitter.com/MhD45STkxB
— National Highways: East Midlands (@HighwaysEMIDS) June 8, 2023
The annual festival is being headlined by Metallica, Bring Me the Horizon and Slipknot.
