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Final day of Camp Bestival cancelled due to severe weather

By | Published on Monday 30 July 2018

Camp Bestival

The UK’s weeks-long heatwave came to an abrupt end this weekend with heavy rain, thunderstorms and high winds. This meant that after a string of festival weekends where the main issue was keeping everyone hydrated, a number of events around the UK were called off because of the wind and rain. The most notable was the final day of this year’s Camp Bestival, which was cancelled due to safety concerns.

The first three days of the festival went off as planned, with headline sets from Orbital, Clean Bandit and Rick Astley. However, on Sunday morning, it was announced that high winds would mean a delay in getting the event’s various arenas opened. Delays continued as the situation was assessed further and ultimately the entire final day of the event was cancelled.

In a statement, organisers said: “We are utterly devastated and heartbroken to say that we have been advised by our safety teams that we can not re-open arenas again today due to the severe weather and the forecasting of continual high winds and rain today”.

“We have had the best three days in Camp Bestival’s history”, they continued. “It’s been our greatest ever show with all our favourite performers, shows, stages and artists which we have thoroughly enjoyed sharing with you all. You are by far the best festival audience and we love you dearly. This has been such a tough decision, but the safety of all you guys, the families, kids, and our working staff has to be of paramount importance”.

While the festival itself stopped, it was announced that the campsites would remain open until 2pm on Monday, with traders continuing to operate in these areas. Some people did choose to stay, although flooding in parts of the campsites and the poor conditions in general meant that others had already begun to leave before the cancellation was even announced.

A ticket refund policy will be published “as soon as possible”, said organisers.



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