News Archive

Who should cop for police bill?
Exclusive by Christina Eccles 
SOARING police costs have sparked a debate over who should foot the bill for their presence at major events. 
A lack of legislation in this area has created difficulties in deciding how involved the police need to be – and ultimately who should pay. 
Sgt Chris White from Essex Police claims that their response to major events is restricted due to the reluctance of the government and event promoters to pay for them.  
He said: “There is no statute and very little case law to define our role at events. A festival such as Glastonbury attracts over 150,000 people which is the size of a large town and the only issues that the police actually have to deal with are crime prevention, public disorder offences and contingency plans. They have no responsibility to manage public safety at events. 
“However, there is a point where the crowd management cannot cope and the police have to be brought in. We need to put resources on site to be able to respond and this comes down to costs- but should that be our public duty and should it be free? 
“For example, the cost to the Metropolitan Police, to police one year’s football is £6 million of which only £1.6 million is recoverable. Nationally, this cost rises to £60 million. Therefore, the ability of the police to respond to large festivals is extremely limited.” 
He also said that police costs should form part of the business expenses for an event but this is something that promoters are reluctant to consider. 
He added: “The area of who should pay these costs has not been brought to the forefront. They should form part of the business expenses but this would mean adding on to ticket prices which is something that promoters do not want to do. 
“A police presence is necessary because there is no other body that could deal with a major incident such as a bomb. Therefore, we have to supply people at events. 
“However, as the average cost to employ a police officer at an event is £50-£60 per hour compared with that of security staff which is about £20 per hour it is a much more expensive option.”

UK organisers warned to cut ticket prices
ORGANISERS have been warned they must do more to cut ticket prices after it was revealed the cost of attending a music festival in the UK is more expensive than anywhere else in Europe. 
Research conducted by online travel and leisure experts lastminute.com said fans left behind in the rush for tickets to events such as Glastonbury may be better off travelling abroad to see their favourite bands instead. 
Head of music at lastminute.com Kate Berry said: "UK music festivals are so expensive because the cost of putting them on is higher for promoters here. 
"Because there are so many festivals desperate to get the best line ups, agents can negotiate higher fees than in Europe, where there are fewer events. 
"The big name festivals have such strong reputations that they can usually sell out without releasing a line up, regardless of ticket price." 
She said Glastonbury is the most expensive, entry is now £145, compare to Spain's Summercase Festival (£57.40 for two days) and £131 with a flight. 
"Smaller festivals are often reasonably priced but can't afford the same quantity of top name acts and there have been a number of casualties in recent years as the market creeps closer to saturation. 
"People need to start voting with their feet and instead of one expensive festival in the UK, they could attend a couple in Europe over the season and make promoters realise that they have competition." 
Kate believes reducing ticket prices would not make events unprofitable. 
She added: "Ozzfest is an entirely free ticket event, underwritten by sponsorship deals and with bands appearing for free. While this is unlikely to be a sustainable model in the long term, it does suggest that organisers could offset the high ticket prices with additional sponsorship.  
"Price differentiation is one way new and emerging festivals can compete with the large established ones ñ new contenders including Latitude Festival and Knowsley Hall Festival are proving itís possible to offer a great show at a reasonable price."

Cornbury set to be best yet
THE Cornbury music festival is now entering its fourth year and organisers are hoping for the most successful event yet. 
It attracts a diverse range of performers to the grounds of Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire and director Hugh Phillimore believes the festival's popularity is down to the fact it hasn't lost its family-friendly appeal. 
He said: "I think the festival is such a success with people of all ages because it offers such a great range of music, entertainment and high end facilities. 
"We could easily have done a deal with one of the main catering concessions brokers as many festivals do but instead we moved away from the obvious catering choices and decided through some early contacts we made to keep it with the foodie boys.  
"We appointed our favourite concession Pura Vida to source what he felt were the best food concessions from other events although we have the final say in what happens. 
Experiencing great food and new tastes has become part of the Cornbury experience. 
"Ticket sales are stronger than ever before and we are hoping to sell out our current capacity of 15,000. We're a very small operation but we're hopefully getting better at this as each year passes. 
"We are very excited by our diverse line up and our ongoing partnership with The Word and Oxford Folk Festival. Although the festival market gets busier every year I hope that the unique atmosphere of Cornbury continues to attract both our loyal local crowd and the mixed age audience that come from across the country to our beautiful location." 
This year's line up includes David Gray, Blondie, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Feeling. 
 

Tower to host summer concerts
THE historic Tower of London will be transformed for 15 nights this summer when it stages a festival bringing together rock, pop and opera. 
Although the Tower may not be the first venue that springs to mind for a music festival, organisers insist that it provides visitors with an experience which combines the traditional feel of a festival with the venue's rich cultural history. 
Spokesman for Outside Organisation, who are promoting the event, Nadine Bibi said: "The event has taken a year to plan and right now there are about 10 people working on it, which will increase to about 200 on the event itself. 
"We are expecting over 40,000 people to attend the concerts and we believe that what makes them so successful is the unique and interesting concept of the central London location combined with the appearance of world class artists. 
"The idea of staging concerts at the Tower of London is due to the fact that the Tower receives no funding from either the public or the Crown so events such as this are welcome additional ways of raising revenue to maintain such a key part of this countryís heritage." 
Nadine added that there are difficulties to be aware of when organising an event in this sort of location. 
"The most difficult aspects of organising this type of event are making sure it is exciting and different in a crowded market and guaranteeing such a high level of artists across the festival. 
"We have lots of new things for this year including a fashion show, Gary Rhodes as the executive chef, a wider range of shows and many more than ever before-there's something for everyone." 
Artists performing this year include Joe Cocker, James Morrison, Katherine Jenkins and Bryan Ferry with more names still to be announced.

Landmark court case will help organisers
A LANDMARK court case is expected to ease the burden of liability on organisers who hire out land to stage their events. 
The court of appeal case - against the organisers of a British Legion village fete - found they cannot be held responsible for the land after the event - providing they have taken reasonable care to ensure it was left in a safe manner. 
The court case, Cole Vs David-Gilbert et al, came after a visitor fell down a hole on the green but the court ruled that fete organisers could not be liable because the land had been used by others and the hole could have been made at any time. 
Peter Forshaw, partner at law firm Weightmans, said section two of the Occupier's Liability Act 1957 Act requires that those in control of premises take care to ensure visitors will be reasonably safe - but that organisers can't be expected to know everything about the land. 
He added: "Where there is an activity being carried out for the greater good (in this case a village fete organised by the British Legion), in the absence of any clear fault by the landowner or organiser, then the Court of Appeal in particular is less inclined to find in favour of visitors who suffer accidents as a result of a danger on the land. 
"However, event organisers should not regard this as open-ended protection so that they disregard health and safety. In such cases, it is still incumbent on such occupiers or organisers to have a system in place for safety, including site inspections whatever their activities to highlight any arising dangers, or to act on any problems of which they become aware. 
"Failure to demonstrate this will render such organisations vulnerable to a finding of liability in similar circumstances."