Bad weather disrupts travel to Isle of Wight Festival.
- 12 years ago
As the Isle of Wight Festival prepares to kick off this weekend, getting to one of the country's most important music festivals has not been an easy task for many.
The recent spate of bad weather blighting the United Kingdom has disrupted the many revellers travelling to the south coast holiday island.
Heavy rains caused parking areas to become waterlogged and muddy, preventing motorists from entering the grounds and creating long queues.
Hundreds were forced to sleep in their cars overnight and others were stranded on ferries, not allowed to disembark because of the back-log of traffic on the island.
Despite the difficulties, many festival-goers have been taking it in their stride.
SOUNDBITE Unidentified woman saying (English):
"It doesnt bother me overly much. If you're going to go to a festival, you know it's going to be crowded, you know you're going to be waiting a bit in line in cars."
SOUNDBITE Unidentified woman saying (English):
"The weather's rained out the fields and that's what's made it a lot worse so, just one of those things and now we're enjoying the sunshine waiting in the traffic and having quite a good laugh."
The Isle of Wight event marks the start of the summer season festivals with veteran musicians Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band headlining the three-day event.
And - with more rain predicted over the weekend - getting out of the festival may prove just as tricky as getting into it.
Gabriella Podimane, Reuters
The recent spate of bad weather blighting the United Kingdom has disrupted the many revellers travelling to the south coast holiday island.
Heavy rains caused parking areas to become waterlogged and muddy, preventing motorists from entering the grounds and creating long queues.
Hundreds were forced to sleep in their cars overnight and others were stranded on ferries, not allowed to disembark because of the back-log of traffic on the island.
Despite the difficulties, many festival-goers have been taking it in their stride.
SOUNDBITE Unidentified woman saying (English):
"It doesnt bother me overly much. If you're going to go to a festival, you know it's going to be crowded, you know you're going to be waiting a bit in line in cars."
SOUNDBITE Unidentified woman saying (English):
"The weather's rained out the fields and that's what's made it a lot worse so, just one of those things and now we're enjoying the sunshine waiting in the traffic and having quite a good laugh."
The Isle of Wight event marks the start of the summer season festivals with veteran musicians Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band headlining the three-day event.
And - with more rain predicted over the weekend - getting out of the festival may prove just as tricky as getting into it.
Gabriella Podimane, Reuters