Download Festival: Second day of travel chaos as rock fans head to Donington Park

Rock fans who say they have been sat in five-hour traffic have described feeling as though they were on the 'highway to hell' as the rockfest commences.

For the second day in a row, revellers on their way to the rock festival at Donington Park faced lengthy delays.

National Highways East Midlands is reporting of 'severe' delays on the M1 north & southbound exit slip roads at J24 as well as on the roundabout.

The agency added similar delays are being encountered on the A453 southbound on approach to J24.

There's also been major disruption for people travelling to nearby East Midlands airport.

Passengers have been warned of "heavy traffic" by the airport and are being advised to "plan ahead, allow additional time travel and check with their airline for the most up-to-date information."

For fans travelling to the site, Download Festival organisers have recommended travelling from the South on the M1, to use Junction 23 onto the A512, then the A42 north to junction 14 and the A453 straight to Download Festival.

For people arriving onsite today, drivers are being told to use the South Car Park only as all other car parks are at capacity.

Major roads were expected to be busy but severe congestion on all roads leading to the site around Donington Park left locals and revellers angry as they recounted their struggles on the motorway.

“Sat on the A42 for almost 5 hours and moved 3 miles. Report it back to Download pretty please as their communication devices seemed to have stopped,” one frustrated driver said.

Another said it was the "worst year ever" for gridlock in their village, adding that the festival was "totally disorganised this year".

National Highways East Midlands reported delays of at least two hours on all approaches to the site, with many drivers saying the figure was closer to four or five hours.

Motorists have lashed out at the festival, recounting their struggles with reaching Donington Park ahead of the four-day event.

Following the disruption, John Probyn, festival manager at Download issued an apology on Twitter.

He wrote: “We apologise for the delays for customers coming on site today. We have been working continuously since first reports this morning with the local authority and transport agencies to minimise these delays. We urge road users to ONLY follow the official travel advice from @downloadfest.”

The four day "special edition" event will be held between 8-11 June 2023 at Donington Park in Castle Donington near Leicestershire.

It will be first time the festival has hosted four headline events with headliners including Bring Me the Horizon and Slipknot.

Camping opened on Wednesday as an 'arrival’ day but there is an extra day of live music this year which starts on Thursday rather than on the Friday as usual.

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