Bizarre fireball claims at T are “unwelcome”, says Geoff

Jul 19 2011 by Greg Christison, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

T in the Park boss Geoff Ellis has admitted a bizarre health and safety ruling proved a nuisance during the organising of this year’s festival.

Speaking exclusively to the PA, the DF Concerts chief executive revealed the Balado site had to be redesigned after the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) claimed there was potential for 44,500 people to be killed by a massive fireball during the festival.

The comments were aired last year as HSE officers warned there was a real potential for a BP pipeline, which runs under part of the land at Balado Park, to malfunction, explode and massacre thousands of revellers.

To allow the musical extravaganza, which attracts 85,000 people per day, to go ahead, organisers had to agree to a series of restrictions which included a limit to the number of activities and people in the vicinity of the pipeline.

This year’s festival saw a major alteration within the arena area with the biggest three stages; Main, Radio One / NME and King Tut’s Wah Wah Tent all moved.

The campsite and car-parking arrangements were also altered.

Mr Ellis said: “The pipeline is one of the reasons we redesigned this year’s arena but we were also listening to feedback from previous years.

“But the impact of the pipeline was more unwelcome in terms of us having to move part of the campsite.

“A lot of the land north of the arena can’t be used for car-parking or camping so that has proven to be a big challenge for us.

“The downside is that it puts more pressure on the production facilities.

“We can’t reduce the amount of people camping so it means our backstage area is tighter.

“But it has also been a good thing for us. Moving between the Main Stage, Radio One/NME Stage and King Tuts was much easier this year.”

HSE officers have been aware of the pipeline, which measures 3ft in diameter and lies about two-and-a-half-feet below the surface, since the festival moved to Kinross-shire from its previous home at Strathclyde Park in the mid-90s.

However, it was only after planning consent was sought by the landowners of Balado Park, which is a relatively small part of the T in the Park site, for permanent use of 42 hectares of land for leisure activities, HSE has highlighted “safety issues of exceptional concern”.

Labelling it a “major hazard”, one HSE officer said: “In the worst case scenario the maximum number of people that could be killed is 44,500.”

At the time Mr Ellis dismissed the chances of such a disaster as being “one in 100 million.”

Mr Ellis insisted he remained confident that Scotland’s largest music festival, which this year attracted headliners Foo Fighters, Coldplay and the Arctic Monkeys, would continue at Balado.

He added: “We intend to be in Kinross for years to come but we have to keep going through a temporary planning process on a regular basis.

“It has never been permanent but it would be a lot easier if it was.

“There are schools, hotels and even an airport on top of the pipeline. If they can get permission, why can’t we?”

l T IN THE PARK EXTRA P20