Revealed: The Glasto welly rush!!

United Kingdom | by Chris McCormick | 01 July 2005

A scene reminiscent of aid packages being delivered to a war-torn region, welly distribution at Glastonbury caused a near riot as thousands clamoured to snap up a pair to save their sodden feet!

Mob rule at Glastonbury!

Following Friday morning's colossal storm at Glastonbury, revellers turned into wild eyed maniacs as the need for the plastic footwear reached panic levels.

Over 30 police, plus a helicopter, were called in to control a heaving mass that stretched from Joe Bananas blanket stall, near the Leftfield, all the way back to the Pyramid stage. The stall's owner, Ian Leonard (Lenny), said: "The Storm hit at 6:60am, we were already flat out selling wellies, we then got another delivery at 12. By this time the queue was going from the Pyramid stage to our stall over 800yrds.

"The delivery lorry turned up outside our stall so to save time we decided to sell them out the back of a lorry. At this point the queue turned into a mob, which I've seen before. I stood up on the lorry and shouted "calm down people will get wellies."

Luckily, a police helicopter had been watching the madness from high above the stall where it had been hovering for an hour. Lenny went on to tell us of his relief

"The police turned up saying that they were going to shut us down, to which I replied, 'no way there'll be pandemonium'. In the end 30 police came down to control the crowd, they wanted to get the mounted police down, but I think that wasn't necessary. So the police just got on the lorry and started handing down wellies to the crowds which I was selling."

The moral of this story - GET YOURS BEFORE THE FESTIVAL!