Madstock safeguarded by AP Security

25 Aug 09

Having enjoyed sold-out events for four years running in London’s Finsbury Park, Madstock - the music festival featuring self-styled ‘Nutty Boys’ and Ska legends Madness - disappeared for over a decade.

However, in July the festival enjoyed a triumphal return at a new venue, Victoria Park. With event specialist AP Security in charge of crowd management and stewarding at both Madstock and the ensuing Lovebox weekend, both turned out to be an unqualified success.

AP was in charge of safety and stewarding throughout entire site for both events. The site featured three stages with a ‘Golden Circle’ in front of the main stage for Madstock and two stages (but no Golden Circle) for Lovebox. Both also featured the usual array of concessions stands, alternative entertainment and sponsored areas.

“The planning started many months in advance,” explained Chris Hollands, AP’s southern operations manager who managed the planning and operation at the events. “There's always a great deal of liaison with the relevant bodies - the licensing authority, festival organisers and the police among them. We drew up comprehensive crowd management plans and also completed a number of site visits because, although we regularly work at Victoria Park and have covered Lovebox for several years, this was the first time that Madstock had taken place there."

The right people in the right place

Hollands continued: “The key, as always, was to ensure we had the right people in the right places, that everyone was fully briefed, emergency procedures were in place and being able to quickly and effectively re-deploy staff as required.”

One of the challenges facing AP Security was that the two events featured distinctly different audiences. Madstock, of course, is for the more ‘laddish’, drinking-orientated crowd which was there specifically to see their ‘Nutty Boy’ heroes in action. The band has enjoyed even more success of late thanks to the critical acclaim heaped upon latest album The Liberty of Norton Folgate.

Lovebox, on the other hand, has a wider demographic of people who were there more for the overall festival experience. The Golden Circle at Madstock also meant that resources had to be carefully managed.

The Golden Circle for Madness

“The Golden Circle presented a bit of a test because Madness fans are very passionate and, of course, everyone wanted to get in there,” suggested Hollands. “Ensuring that only the right pass-holders from an enthusiastic crowd were allowed entry meant we had to place considerable resources there."

Hollands went on to state: “In addition, it was clearly stated when people bought tickets for the event that children were not allowed entry to the Golden Circle for safety reasons, but some people had still bought tickets for that area for youngsters. So our staff had to gently, but firmly explain to them that children weren’t allowed in there.”

As Madstock took place on a Friday, a significant proportion of the audience entered the site between 4.00 pm and 8.00 pm, coming straight from their places of work. This meant that Hollands had to be able to provide more staff at the entrance between these times, but then rapidly and efficiently redeploy them once that period was over and then concentrate a larger proportion of staff at the exits once the festival had finished.

“Efficient redeployment, plus strength and depth in the response teams were key requirements,” said Hollands. “We were prepared for anything, but it was a brilliant atmosphere and both events were a great success. Of course, it helps that we have long-term partnerships with the police, the local Council and the Lovebox team, but you can never take anything for granted. Having a new event in Madstock was a challenge for us, but both went very well and everyone was really happy with what we did.”

View from the Metropolitan Police Service

“Madstock was attended by over 60,000 people and presented a number of challenges in delivering a safe environment for all those there,” added Andy Fittes, the Metropolitan Police Service's event planning officer.

“AP Security wrests a lot of the burden from our shoulders by being proactive in dealing with issues as they arise. Minor incidents are quickly dealt with and, more often than not, do not require police to attend. All-too-often, the police service is required to provide the first line of safety provision for events, but this is not the case with AP."

Continuing to hand out fulsome praise for the security company's work, Fittes said: “AP Security has some outstanding senior managers, but stewards at all levels were well briefed and enthusiastic to help the police, being very good at passing on information which they considered may be useful."

As a result, the weekend passed by with no major incidents. "It was the actions of all AP’s staff which helped to deliver that outcome,” concluded Fittes.

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