10 per cent drop in crime at V Festival this year
There was a 10 per cent reduction in overall crime at this year's V Festival, police said today.
All emergency services today announced a reduction in incident figures following the two-day festival at Weston Park. More than 90,000 music lovers watched headline performances by Beyonce and Kings of Leon and organisers have described the weekend's event as a major success.
Staffordshire police carried out more than 1,000 searches of festival-goers and campers and more than 100 festival-goers were ejected from the site.
Staffordshire Police chief inspector Peter Owen said: "The size of the festival is the equivalent of a small town and the relatively small amount of crime we have had is a real achievement. We're thrilled about the fact we've seen a further reduction than previous years in crime numbers."
Medical, fire and disorder incidents were also down with just 36 people being taken to hospital for treatment and just 31 minor fire cases across the weekend.
Ted Wilson, manager at Venture Event Medical Management Services, said: "This was a very successful event. The number of people treated on site was just over 1,500 with only 36 being referred to hospital.
"This demonstrates that we are reducing the effect and impact on local services.
"We would like to thank the West Midlands Ambulance Service and St John's Ambulance for their work and dedication."
Station Manager Mick Jahn, of Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service, said: "We had a number of minor isolated incidents over the three days. Given that there were more than 85,000 people at the event, it was a very small number of incidents and firefighters have dealt with no injuries."
Festival Organiser Andy Redhead said: "We're really pleased with how the weekend went.
"Being on the backfoot on Friday with weather against us, we battled for a couple of hours and came out on top. And it stayed that way.
"We're fortunate that we work with such professional agencies planning the festival and we're looking forward to starting preparations for 2014."
See also: Big Weston Park clear-up begins when the V Festival music stops
