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Right this is Balco's account of the explosive final night at the Leeds Festival 

Right after the last bands had finished we met up and decided that because it took an hour to get back to the tents the night before, we would stay in the arena and have a look around the shops and also get some food and drinks. We were hoping this would mean an easy leisurely stroll back to the tents, well the walk back to the tents was ok, but still a bit busy and muddy but a lot better than the previous night.

When we entered the campsite it was really strange there seemed to be a lot of camp fires all over the field, but these camp fires were not small camp fires they were larger and there were bangs coming from them. Well we didn't know what they were to start with, but we soon did. Because of all this we decided the first thing we would do was go up to the toilets, well we arrived at the toilets and for a start we could not find the entrance to them. I just thought we had the wrong side of the toilets, but apparently the toilets had been locked up because some of the toilets had been set alight. As we were waiting for them to be opened again there were people trying to pull the poles down, that were holding the lights up. We finally got into the toilets but the stewards were checking in your bags for anything that could set them on fire again.  

After we had left the toilets, the power was switched off to the lights, because they had been pulled down onto the ground and there were live cables laying about on the ground exposed. So for safety it was the only thing that could be done. As we made our way to our tent we saw what was causing the fires to bang, people were throwing aerosols and camping gas canisters onto the fires. The explosions were making burning ash blow in the air and they were so close to the tents. I wouldn't be surprised if later in the night some tents will have burnt down because of this. When we got to our tent we saw that there was a fire just like that near our tent with a shopping trolley burning on it as well. I can tell you that at this stage I did not feel safe at all, don't these idiots know how flammable tents are.

So once at the tent we started to wonder if it was wise to spend the night there, I was pretty certain I didn't want to go asleep in my tent with all them fires going on around the tent. We thought about going back to Pepsi's Car and staying in there for the night and leaving the tent there over night, and getting it in the morning.  I didn't really want to leave the tent there over night. I suggested we take the tent down now, well I had put the tent up and down 4 other times this summer, I was pretty certain I could take my tent down by Torch light and pack everything up. We could take everything back to the car now and then spend the night in the car. Pepsi then said that Izzy had said about staying at hers that night, well Pepsi rang Izzy up and told her what was happening and of cause she said we could stay at her house.  

So at 1am I started to take the tent down by torch light with the explosions getting louder and the shouting increasing. We were all packed up and ready to start the walk back to the car by about 1.30am I think. As we were leaving the campsite there was a group of people trying to pull down the watch tower, which by then had been abandoned by the steward at the top of it. The group were being spurred on by onlookers who were encouraging them to pull it down. I couldn't believe it, I was glad we were leaving the campsite now, before it got any worse.

Right so we had left the campsite and was now walking along the paths with our torches showing us the way, because all the lights on this half of the site were turned off and every 20 metres or so a lighting pole had been bent down and was lying across the path at a height of about half a metre. Walking through a dark area like this with everything going on around us was pretty scary, and everyone who was walking towards me made me wonder if they were one of the idiots who were doing all this.

Along the way we spoke to several stewards and they had been told to take off their reflective vests because they had lost contact with some of the stewards. There were fears they had been injured and that was why they had to take them off, just in case some of the idiots choose them as targets.  

As we were getting closer to the other side of the site there were a few police officers there and there were some people warning us about them prior to reaching them, we were like "yeah so what we haven't got anything to hide". Once we were at this side of the site the lights were on so it felt a bit safer. But I was still glad we were leaving and going to Izzy's.  

Once we had left the site and were away from the site it felt so much safer and now we just had to make our way to Izzy's house and then it would all be over. Once we got to Izzy's house  it was on the news. We all sat up till about 4am talking about the idiots and also all the good music that there was over the weekend.

When we all woke at about noon we watched the news and it said that about 200 riot police had been involved in about 5 hours of encounters between them and the idiots on the site. But the real crazy thing about the whole situation is that the organisers are saying that the festival will still go ahead at the same site next year. Well we will have to wait and see if that does happen but some how I can't see how it will.  

I know for certain that I won't be camping there again and I'm not sure if I will ever go to that festival again !!!! 

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