THE director of T in The Park has told how he would “wring the necks” of safety regulators whose fears over a potentially hazardous oil pipeline forced organisers to move from its traditional home of 17 years.
Geoff Ellis, CEO of promoters DF Concerts which runs the festival, lashed out at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which raised persistent objections to 85,000 revellers being allowed to party near the major oil pipeline at Balado, in Kinross-shire. As a result, the event relocatied to Strathallan, in Perth, where it has been plagued with problems.
However, in 2015, its debut year at the new site, there were reports of traffic problems, long delays entering and leaving the location, with some revellers forced to sleep in their cars and stay on the site.
Catriona Stewart on T in the Park: Don’t haste ye back too soon
Planning costs for the festival also soared to £500,000 after organisers were forced to take special measures to protect a pair of nesting ospreys near the Strathallan site.
Last year’s T in The Park also came under fresh scrutiny following the suspected drug-related deaths of two teenagers, as well as the alleged rape of an 18-year-old woman atthe site.
Speaking at the Scottish Music Awards, Mr Ellis said it had been a “tough couple of years” for the festival before insisting he would like to “get the HSE and wring their necks”.
Catriona Stewart on T in the Park: Don’t haste ye back too soon
He admitted he was still “annoyed” about having to move the festival from its long-term base in Kinross-shire and hit out at concerns over the oil pipeline which they had tried to design the site around before moving to Strathallan.
Mr Ellis said: “You’ve got Aberdeen airport runway on the same pipeline. You’ve got a school on the same pipeline. Grangemouth is on it and the HSE’s argument was not that it was not safe.
“They say it is safe but if something did happen then with lots of people at T in the Park it would be unthinkable.
“Surely if something did happen with all those school kids that would be unthinkable.
“So the fact that there are more people at T in The Park doesn’t really mean that other things should carry on near the oil pipeline.”
Catriona Stewart on T in the Park: Don’t haste ye back too soon
A HSE spokeswoman said the body only had an advisory role in planning decisions and councils had the final say.
She said: “Our consistent advice to Perth and Kinross Council, which licensed the event at Balado Park, was that the risk of an incident was very low, but if something did happen, the consequences would be catastrophic.”
Meanwhile, it has been reported that one of the world’s biggest bands, Radiohead, have been given the green light to perform at Glasgow Green to kick off Scotland’s new three-day festival to be run by DF Concerts.
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