Safety & Security

A strong sense of community is one of the most important things at Boomtown. We want everyone to feel safe, to be themselves and lose all inhibitions.

Security

There are a lot of measures in place to help keep everyone safe, including our security teams who assist in ensuring things run smoothly for all of us. They are all Security Industry Authority (SIA) trained and are here to help, listen, advise, take reports and deal appropriately with difficult situations. 

You can find them easily in their hi-vis tabards throughout the city, in all campsites and campsite help points, stages and venues, where their primary objective is to keep us all safe and secure.

Below is an overview of what they do to look after us all, some tips on how we can help them do their challenging job and some advice on how to keep yourself and your stuff safe;

GETTING AROUND 

So you can make your way around our site quickly and see as many artists and shows as possible, security keeps their eye on crowd flow! Sometimes they might:

• Stop people entering an area or stage if it has reached capacity, or you don’t have the right wristband for a specific area
• Shut down venues
• Implement one-way systems
• Cordon off areas
• Remove tents if they are blocking fire lanes
• Ask anyone underage in an age-restricted area to move on to a suitable location

CAMPSITES

To keep an eye on everyone’s safety and wellbeing as well as ensure everyone gets the chance to rest up, refuel and have some much-needed sleep, security are on hand to:

• Provide support to anyone who may feel they have been put in an uncomfortable position by any anti-social behaviour
• Provide a presence across campsites to check for suspicious behaviour and protect against opportunist tent theft
• Ask the more boisterous amongst us to move if they are in a designated quiet area or if it’s the early hours
• Switch off rogue and prohibited sound systems

THEY CAN ALSO...

• Stop people from putting themselves and others in danger by climbing on sets or equipment
• Stop tagging and vandalism of sets
• Confiscate any item that is on the prohibited items list
• Confiscate any alcohol brought into the festival that is over the official limit
• Implement no smoking regulations
• Confiscate drugs taken overtly in public by issuing a receipt for any retained substances
• Restrain anyone who is a danger to themselves or others
• Carry out searches in cars, campervans and bag and outer clothing person searches

EVICTIONS:

If you find yourself in the unlikely position of being taken to evictions… don’t expect the worst. This is a review, not an automatic judgement!

ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR FROM SECURITY

Security must follow the rules and respect everyone on site. Boomtown is a community which celebrates diversity and does not tolerate any form of intimidation, violent or threatening behaviour or prejudice or anti-social behaviour.

If at any point you feel that Security staff are not behaving in an appropriate way please DO report it whilst you are on site, so we can ensure it is followed up and we can take affirmative action immediately. You can do this by reporting it to the Info Point and the   Campsites Help Points, or via the message service on the Boomtown app. You can also request that a different security staff member requests assistance from a manager to deal with the situation. To help us investigate this fully, if possible please make a note of the following details:

• SIA / ID number (this is found on security’s hi vis jacket)
• Tabard number
• Location
• Date / time
• Physical description of the staff member

Post show Complaints

If you do not feel able to report a situation you were faced with onsite, we will absolutely investigate your feedback after the show. However, please note that it is much harder for us to investigate and take action to deal with retrospective complaints or issues, except where a matter can be raised as a criminal offence with the police or is subject to civil legal action. It is almost impossible to follow up individual incidents when we are no longer on the ground and they can take months to resolve and may result in an unsatisfactory conclusion. 

SECURITY CANNOT:

• Confiscate drugs without issuing an official drugs warning notice and recording the process
• Under no circumstances can they carry out any form of intimate body searching of an individual. This can only be carried out by the police. There will be police onsite supporting our search procedures, who may conduct intimate body searches where they deem it to be necessary.

Protect Yourself From Crime

Although we don’t  see many theft or violent crimes at the festival, please still take these provisions to keep yourself safe from opportunists and tent thieves:

• Lock and empty your car (do not leave possessions on display)
• If you have valuables at the festival - use the lockers for storing cash, keys and phones
• Don’t carry large volumes of cash (our cashless wristband system should elevate the need for you to bring much cash, and there is still a cashpoint on site if you need cash for your journey home)
• Keep any valuables out of sight and in a secure place (eg the bottom of your sleeping bag whilst you are asleep)
• Get to know your neighbours and create a community spirit to look out for each other.

Reporting a crime:

• You can report any suspicious, anti-social or unwelcome behaviour to us through the messaging system in the Boomtown app, at the arena information point and campsite help points, or to a steward or member of security.  
• If you need to report a theft in progress find your nearest security or steward or report it straight into Campsite Help Points who will inform security and provide assistance
• If you have had items stolen from your tent or person, let us know at the Campsite Help Points or the Information Point, so we can support you and help you with contacting the police.

Naturism

What is Naturism?
Naturism is a lifestyle of non-sexual social nudity, and the cultural movement which advocates for and defends that lifestyle. Both may also be referred to as nudism.

We understand and respect everyone’s right to freedom of expression. We are an inclusive festival and actively promote people to express and celebrate themselves and we have no problem with you attending the event as a Naturist as long as you conduct yourselves whilst on the festival site within the confines of the law. We will do our best to facilitate your beliefs and respect it during our event. We unfortunately cannot speak for any other ticket holders who may deem they have been caused harassment, alarm or distress. In order to keep everyone happy we have devised a Naturist consent form that you can take round with you on site in case you are questioned.

All our security staff and volunteers will be briefed on our Naturism policy and will be aware of the consent form. 

If you are a Naturist and wish to attend our event nude please contact info@boomtownfair.co.uk