Ian Baker, (normally assistant director of leisure safety at Capita Symonds) was employed as the acting licensing officer for the local authority for the festival. He said that with 35,000 people camping, it was good planning by ClearChannel to open the campsites two days before the festival started. ClearChannel also encouraged people to collect rubbish by offering them beer tokens on delivery of a black bin bag full of rubbish - which proved a good motivator.
"Noise is a thorny subject at Donington," says Baker. "As a racing circuit it already has stringent noise controls applied to the venue. These actually meant that the noise has to be controlled more than at most festival sites, so the PA on the main stage has to be carefully designed and have delay speakers to ensure good audience levels."Health and safety consultants MRL looked after the general Health & Safety during the build and breakdown, and also wrote the event management plan for ClearChannel Entertainments, liaised with the emergency services before and during the festival, and dealt with public and crowd safety at both the show and the campsite.
As 50,000 fans gathered in front of the main stage for Black Sabbath, there followed an explosion of energy seen in no other type of music audience. The two hours of moshing and crowd-surfing that followed looked incredibly threatening and dangerous to the uninitiated, but as the crowd left at the end of the show it was clear all present had had a good time and (barring a few bruises and minor abrasions) no harm had been done. The experience of the emergency services, licensing officers, and the Showsec security staff on the front line was crucial in staying calm and managing the situation.
Showsec's Simon Battersby led an experienced management team and 450 staff to look after the Download fans. Showsec worked with licensing officials from the SIA (Security Industry Authority) and used the event as a guide to ascertain how to use the correct mix of SIA licensed staff and trained stewards for future festivals. Showsec supplied 48 SIA licensed staff among their team and the officials commented on the high level of preparation which meant that no crisis management was called on.
The most visibly obvious challenge to Showsec over the weekend was the main stage pit, where hundreds of crowd-surfers came over the barrier. Battersby commented: "I doubt there will be another festival pit in the UK as busy as this through the summer. Our main-stage managers John [Hadland], Simon [Sinclair] and Brendan [Kellegher], were well organized and maintained control under pressure. Even after three full-on days and with Sunday's last three bands, the team never faltered and did a great job looking out for people in the audience who were pretty exhausted after three days of drinking and not much sleep!"
John Probyn, ClearChannel's festival manager for Download, agreed that things had gone well, commenting: "Showsec, along with the whole team of contractors, were utterly professional." Naturally at an event of this type, there was a lot of crowd surfing, and Probyn's attitude to this is simple: "Don't do it, it hurts people!" He continued: "I haven't had any reports from Showsec indicating that it was any worse than expected and they would have let me know if there was a problem. We're always motivated to reduce moshing and surfing, as it is dangerous, but you can only go so far. We have to try and educate rather than enforce. We may look to introduce a new system next year, such as two strikes and you're out - so t
