Policeman shocked by ‘devastation’ at festival site takes concerns to council

Martin Dench claims he was initially denied access to the Bramham Park site by security staff despite explaining that he believed his daughter’s life was in danger following phone calls to him from her friends.

He eventually got in after placing himself “on duty” and found his daughter, 17, safe.

His concerns about safety mounted when he accessed the site.

“In the tented area I was shocked to see devastation – smoking fires, gas canisters exploding, youths staggering around under the influence.

“My wife witnessed someone leaving the venue with a white substance around his mouth and when a guard pointed this out, he said ‘best not waste it’ and consumed the powder.”

He has written to the organisers and the licensing authority, Leeds Council, with his concerns.

Mr Dench, who lives in Huddersfield and works for Greater Manchester Police, has raised questions about safety, drugs searches and medical facilities.

He believes that the safety of under-18s could be much improved.

In particular, he says security staff should be more helpful when dealing with concerned parents.

Organisers, he said, have a “moral duty”, if not a legal duty, to ensure the safety of people under 18.

“I am making a formal complaint about one member of the security staff on night duty. I explained my concerns and my position and requested information about the venue, who was in charge and CCTV. In my opinion he couldn’t care less about my concerns and kept fobbing me off. His attitude was that I couldn’t enter the site due to licence conditions.”

Melvyn Benn, of organisers Festival Republic, said: “Leeds Festival is licensed by Leeds City Council after extensive planning and discussion with members of all the blue light services including West Yorkshire Police and the agencies of LCC itself and I, as well as they, were extremely happy about the arrangements made in relation to all the points raised by Mr Dench.”

He added: “If Mr Dench would care to contact me first direct rather than do it via yourselves I would be happy to provide as much information as I feel reasonable.”