Investigation begins into traffic 'chaos' around Download Festival

A council investigation has begun looking into whether license conditions were breached by Download Festival.

It follows the significant traffic disruption around this year's festival, which saw roads around Donington Park gridlocked, leaving thousands of people stuck in long queues.

One diabetic woman earlier told ITV News Central she was caught in the chaos for 14 hours, and was without food during the disruption.

Thousands of people were affected by the traffic delays as they made their way to the festival's extended 20-year anniversary event.

North West Leicestershire District Council says the investigation will look at what went wrong, and how plans can be changed to avoid events repeating itself.

The Council is responsible for the licensing of events in its area, including health and safety, noise management and food safety.

It works with other organisations including Leicestershire County Council, to ensure the festival site itself is safe and that there is minimum disruption to local areas.

Councillor Michael Wyatt, Portfolio Holder for Community Services at NWLDC said: “We are proud that Download festival brings thousands of people to our district each year, and work with the festival, the venue and other organisations to make sure disruption is kept to a minimum.

“Anyone who witnessed the traffic troubles this year can see that those plans were not sufficient, so it’s only right for us to investigate whether there are things that can be done to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Download Festival's organisers Festival Republic has confirmed that it will fully co-operate with the investigation.

It has already made commitments to address the travel plan for those attending future festivals, and will review its communication with local people.