Disabled Friendly ?

One aspect of this year's festival that we decided to take a look at was disabled access. Having, literally, tripped across Mark Cotter early on Saturday morning, we asked him about his thoughts on disabled access at the festival.

"One major advantage is the grass is short. It means that I can get good purchase on my wheels even if it's a bit wet. There's no dogs around so it's largely clean, although it can be a bit of a shit if you run over an abandoned takeaway.

The site entrances are big enough to get a chair through and there's even a place to charge your batteries if you're in one of those electric jobies.

There's dedicated viewing areas on all three stages. The view at the folk tent is particularly good. Stage One is reasonable, but the Radio Two Stage is on the crap side.

The sound there is good but there's no angle on the stage so you never really get to see the performer. If they moved the viewing area along one tent section and put in a couple of risers that would improve the situation a hell of a lot. There could also be space for a disabled toilet there. Either that or have the access at the other end so that you don't have to go all the way around the tent to get there.

I'm here with friends so getting drinks isn't a problem. After Friday lunchtime I don't even try getting into the beer tent, unless it's raining. Mostly people'll get out of your way and let you get to the bar, but there's no where for you to get drinks from if the bar's too high for you.

It's the same with the food stalls, most of the counters are on the high side. For the most part the staff are good and bring the food 'round, but if it's busy people'll push past you.

It's also got easier since the Mainstage stays indoors. There's not that push of people into the field so there's a little more space to use, if only people kept the paths clear.

Of the three festivals I do each year, this is the best, but they've still got a little way to go, especially at Radio Two stage."