We live by Creamfields Festival – traffic backs up for 11 miles and our shops sell out of booze
FED up residents have blasted the “nightmare” of having 70,000 ravers arrive for Britain’s biggest dance festival – bringing 11 miles of traffic and emptying the shops of alcohol.
Music fans caused miles of gridlocked traffic when the doors opened at Creamfields North in Daresbury, Cheshire, on Thursday.
Many homeowners fled the area to avoid the chaos and “horrendous traffic”, with more than 11 miles of queues on the M56 and main roads into the site.
The festival organisers even provide security guards for houses nearby so fans do not break in while owners are away.
And residents grumble that the local supermarket always runs out of booze over the August bank holiday as festival-goers stock up.
There are also numerous road closures in the villages surrounding the four-day dance festival starring Swedish House Mafia, Scottish DJ Calvin Harris, David Guetta and Pete Tong.
But locals have blasted the disruption as well as loud dance music from the site.
Up to five miles of traffic were backed up on on the main A56 road to get into the site when it opened on Thursday with teenagers lugging camping gear for miles.
Dog walker Emma Hill, 53, said: “It’s a nightmare with traffic.
“There are huge traffic jams for miles – you can’t get anywhere as all the roads surrounding the place just get clogged up.
“A lot of people hate it because of the disruption and you can hear a constant ‘boom, boom’ of the music if the wind is blowing from the site.
“The parish council objected to the festival when it came here about ten years ago as they knew hardly anyone wanted it.
“All the roads around the site are blocked for miles.
“I went to the vets and a poor dog had been waiting for nearly two owners for his owner was stuck in traffic.”
Mum-of-two Kate Derrick, 42, lives just half a mile from the site.
Out walking her dog Eric, the architect said: “A lot of people complain about the traffic and the noise.
“You do hear if especially if the wind is blowing from the site.
“I don’t mind it myself but a lot of people do go away for the weekend to escape.
“The festival organisers even give some house security guards.
“It’s quite funny when you see all the girls in hot pants lugging their luggage or tents to the festival.
“I haven’t been as it’s not really my thing, but I have been to other festivals nearby.
“Sometimes it is loud and you can even sing along to the words.”
GET AWAY
A businessman, who lives by the site but did not give his name, said: “I usually go away for the weekend to get away from it.
“The traffic is horrendous and the whole thing is such a nuisance.
“It’s such a niche crowd with drugs but to be fair it is very well organised and we don’t see any litter or bad behaviour in the village.”
Retired factory worker Stephen Lawrence, 67, said: “The traffic is really bad.
“All the roads are clogged up but I think it’s a good thing to have a dance festival.
“I used to go to the Creamfields nightclub in Liverpool more than 30 years ago and loved it – mind you, my dance days are way behind me now.”
Cheshire Police have warned festival-goers that anyone caught with drugs or weapons will be prosecuted.
A hotel chef was jailed in June for trying to smuggle £2,300 of party drugs into the music festival.
Catarina Melo, 23, had MDMA, mcat and ketamine to give to a dealer in exchange for cash to fund her weekend.
But the £40,000-a-year sous chef at the five-star Intercontinental London Park Lane Hotel was detained when her haul was detected by sniffer dogs.
It happened on the same day of the festival that Lucy George, 25, of Neath in South Wales, took an ecstasy pill which led to her death from multiple organ failure.
Also taking place this weekend is the Leeds and Reading Festival.
People living near the Leeds site in Bramham, West Yorkshire, have told of perks such as discounted tickets but also drunken “mayhem”.
Homeowners opposite the Reading stages in Berkshire have been celebrating how they get to enjoy the event without needing to pay.
Weather experts have shared their forecasts on what people attending the different festivals can expect today and tomorrow.