A Cornish security company has disputed the organisers' account of an alleged attack which they said disrupted the Save the Rave festival, calling it "completely fabricated".
Will Secure, a Cornwall-based security firm, says it was left dealing with the fallout after the event at the Royal Cornwall Showground in Wadebridge descended into chaos on Saturday, September 12.
The company, headed up by managing director Luke Wills, claims the site was significantly different from the plans it had been shown in advance, with promised infrastructure missing and arrangements changing shortly before the event opened.
Save the Rave had been advertised as a three-day event at the showground, with a line-up including N-Trance, Flip N Fill, Livin' Joy, Ian Van Dahl, DJ Sammy and Sash!.
The event was promoted as a major old-school rave festival, with thousands of people expected to attend. However, previous reports have described the event as a "shambles" and "s**tshow", with festival-goers, traders and performers raising concerns about the organisation of the only day that went ahead, after two of three were cancelled.
The organisers subsequently said an incident involving violence and threats hadaffected the event but DJs and vendors said it was a disaster from the get-go. Now Mr Wills, of Will Secure, has contacted CornwallLive to give his account of what happened behind the scenes as he has yet to receive payment for the work carried out at the event.
Mr Wills said his company had held "several meetings" with organiser Natalie Moran before the event and had been sent a site map before confirming its staffing and deployment plans. But, according to the security boss, when security staff arrived on Saturday, "the site was completely different".
He said there was no VIP area, as had been advertised and sold to punters at a higher price, while the advertised family area did not have access to the face painting and food stalls that had been expected.
"There was very little fencing and infrastructure which we were led to believe would be in place," he said. Mr Wills also claimed that four bars shown in the plans had become one, which he described as being poorly stocked.
"Fridges weren't even plugged in and ran out a number of times throughout the day," he said. The security company also claims contractors had been told the event was sold out, despite what it says was a significantly lower turnout.
Mr Wills said some contractors had been booked to work across all three days and were only informed shortly before the weekend that the Friday and Sunday events had been cancelled.
He claimed some were not told until the day before. "The numbers for the Saturday was just a few hundred," he said. The event was originally promoted as running across the weekend, with listings showing events at the Royal Cornwall Showground on September 11, 12 and 13.
After complaints started pouring in the organisers made a statement about an "attempted attack" involving violence and threats. Police confirmed to CornwallLive that officers attended twice and there was no criminality taking place. Mr Wills also strongly disputes the account of an attack and says it was "completely fabricated".
He claims tensions had instead been building among contractors because of what he described as repeated broken promises. According to Mr Wills, fairground operator David Rowland And Sons Funfairs had expected around 5,000 customers per day over three days and had paid a substantial deposit to take part. He said the fairground had also supplied marquees, fridges and other infrastructure for the event.
Mr Wills claims the fairground operator eventually decided to remove itself from the site and began packing down its equipment. He said an argument then developed between the fairground staff and people acting on behalf of the organisers.
David Rowland And Sons Funfairs has said it lost about £7,000 in attending the event with its rides and staff.
Mr Wills said police attended the site twice and that members of Will Secure showed officers around the event. "The police were at the site twice and shown around by us and happy that it was under control," he said.
He also claims the event organisers subsequently left the site, leaving security staff and others to deal with the situation. "We were left to deal with the fallout of their actions, or lack of," he said.
Another issue raised by the security company concerned an alleged afterparty. Mr Wills said security staff were repeatedly asked about an event at a pub in the town, but they were later told that the pub itself had no knowledge of an afterparty taking place. Will Secure says it continued working despite the problems because staff felt they were in the same position as other contractors and wanted to prevent the event from collapsing completely.
"We appeased most of who was left in terms of contractors and acts as we felt we were all in the same position," Mr Wills said. "If not for us and others that stayed on in the absence of the client, the event would have folded."
Security Boss Says Save the Rave Attack Claim Was Fabricated