Keeping you safe at Y Not Festival

The weekend music fans have been waiting for is almost here and we want to make sure that this year’s Y Not Festival is one to remember for all the right reasons.

We’ve been working with the festival organisers to ensure that all those attending this weekend’s event can have a safe and enjoyable time. We’ve also been working hard to minimise the disruption to local residents and the wider public.

Thousands of people will be heading to Pikehall for the festival, which runs from Thursday 1 August to Sunday 4 August and features headliners Snow Patrol, Jamie T and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

Our officers will be on site all weekend helping to keep you safe so come and speak to us if you have any concerns or issues.

If you or someone you know is attending please share our top personal safety tips for the event:

• Keep valuable items with you in a secure bag or inside pocket at all times. Campers are encouraged to put valuables in their sleeping bag with them when they go to bed.
• Stick with your friends. It’s easy to lose people on such a large site so set a designated meeting point and always look out for each other.
• Do not bring drugs on to the festival site. Y Not has a zero tolerance approach to substance misuse and drugs. Anyone caught with prohibited substances risks arrest and will be refused entry or ejected from the site. You cannot be sure of the ‘purity’ of a drug just by looking, do not put yourself at risk.
• If you are drinking alcohol then know your limits. People who are under the influence may become easy targets for criminals.
• Keep an eye on your drink and never leave it unattended.
• If you’re the designated driver for your journey home, remember that you could still be over the limit if you have too much to drink the night before you leave. So if you plan to hit the roads the next day, stay sober the night before. No festival is worth losing your licence or your life over, and if you’re over the limit the next day, the risk of a collision is huge.
• Download the what3words app before you go. The app pinpoints your exact location which you can then share with friends or provide to the 999 operator in the event of an emergency.

There’s also some more safety advice from the festival organisers on the website at INFO - Y Not Festival.