Licensing chiefs have given crucial backing to Scotland’s biggest music festival – but have urged organisers to review their online alcohol sales amid fears of binge drinking.
T in the Park cleared its final hurdle at a meeting of Perth and Kinross Council’s licensing board on Thursday, just eight weeks before gates are due to open.
Members granted consent for all 15 bars – including a new pirate-themed pub – as well as a campsite supermarket and off-sales outlet.
They were told organisers DF Concerts had come up with a more robust plan to deal with drunkeness and improve safety.
But board members questioned the Be Chilled service which has operated at the festival for several years. It allows campers to pre-book drink online and collect it from chillers at the campsite.
Councillor Willie Wilson said he was concerned that buyers could pre-book up to 24 cans each day. “That’s roughly 32 units,” he said. “And the recommended guidelines for an adult male are just two-three units a day.”
He said the service could pose a health risk. “Do you think its appropriate to allow the sale of alcohol 10 times the recommended limit to one person, without knowing what their consumption is going to be?”
Colin Rodger, head of events at DF Concerts, told the board that people ordering large amounts of drink are generally buying for friends. Members also heard that the vast majority of people who use the service order four cans.
Mr Rodger said: “The facts speak for themselves and what we see is that what you’re describing (bulk buying for one person) is not what’s happening.”
However, he did agree to look again at the service in time for next year’s event.
T in the Park scored a public entertainment licence last month, despite major misgivings by council bosses about the way last year’s event was run.
DF Concerts has overhauled its traffic and security arrangements to avoid problems which plagued last summer’s event at Strathallan.
Convenor of the board Henry Anderson said he visited last year’s event and saw a steward turn away a drunken reveller and “throw him out onto the road”. Mr Anderson said: “I had to intervene and say you cannot leave that man there. The police had to get involved.”
Mr Rodger told the licensing board: “I hope it has come across that we publicly acknowledge that we have got things wrong last year.”
He said the improvement plan submitted to the local authority would fully address traffic and security problems. A large-scale bus station – similar to one used at Glastonbury – and a single pick-up and drop-off point would prevent a repeat of 2015’s chaos, which saw thousands of revellers wandering along darkened country roads.
The council’s licensing standards officer Harry Dunn said this year’s plan “was the most robust it had ever been.”
T in the Park’s application for a 2016 licence attracted no objections from police or members of the public.
This year’s event from July 8-11 will feature headline acts the Stone Roses, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Calvin Harris.
