Joe GallopKilimanjaro Live is to introduce car parking charges at Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival (cap. 25,000) next year in a bid to ease traffic congestion, following long-delays at this year’s event.
The promoter said poor weather conditions and a large volume of motorists who arrived early led to lengthy traffic queues at this year’s event, which took place from 27-29 July at the Belladrum Estate in Kiltarlity. The lineup included Travis, Bastille, Sigrid, KT Tunstall and Sam Ryder.
Last month the promoter said this year’s best ever sale of 25,000 tickets was a “very small percentage” increase from last year so nothing else in the traffic management plan was changed.
Vehicle passes for next year are set to cost £12 with profit from the sale of these passes used to benefit the local communities.
Kilimanjaro Live said in a statement, “Those caught up in the traffic on the Thursday this year will hopefully be pleased to hear that we are re-introducing car park passes, which must be booked in advance.
“This will encourage more car sharing, manage the car park capacities and speed up entry to the festival. You will have the opportunity to select the car park most convenient for where you want to camp. A window sticker will be sent to your home address in advance to ensure you are directed to the correct car park.”
The incident at Belladrum last month followed similar issues at this year’s Download Festival, which saw Leicestershire County Council warn that the event could be under threat if there is a repeat of this year. The 20th edition of the festival caused severe congestion on the roads around Donington Park in Leicestershire as some attendees said it took them up to seven hours to arrive on site. Promoter Live Nation said the traffic congestion was “unprecedented and not acceptable”.