Godiva Festival stage closed as 'hundreds stampede' leaving young kids crying...

Security were forced to eject people from the site after the incident



A 'stampede' involving 'hundreds of youths' led to a stage being closed at Godiva Festival last night. Organisers were forced to shut The Next Stage following what has been described as a large-scale incident involving 'hundreds'.

Reports poured onto social media from festival-goers saying their children were left 'frightened' and 'crying' as a huge group of youths surged towards families as they were enjoying the festival and watching headline act Paloma Faith. In response to the posts, the Godiva Festival team said that the security on site 'acted swiftly' and 'ejected' those responsible.

But the incident ruined the night for some. Upset parents shared their 'frightening' experience on the Godiva Festival page on Facebook. One said: "We went to get some candy floss as we were walking over we saw what I could only describe as a stampede coming straight for us we didn't know which way to go.

"All I could do is throw my arms around my daughter to protect her. It was horrible and frightening.

"A poor lady with her little boy in her arms ran to get out of the way. She looked so frightened for herself and her young child.

"It was disgusting to see so many young underage drinking and this kind of disorder going on. The security were coming from all directions but it was still mayhem and to think we pay good money to enjoy and eventually to have this happen ."

Another posted: "It was awful when it kicked off & those youths (mainly dressed in black for some reason) stampeded from the other stage down towards the loos, literally just mowed down through where families were sitting on blankets & on chairs watching Paloma. It was awful to see & it happened so quick!

"Kids were crying, it was horrible. I hope just hope nobody was hurt! I don’t understand why they’d want to come to a family friendly music festival to fight!"

One explained the scale of the incident, posting: "I've never seen anything quite like it! Must have been about 100+ kids all heading in the same direction, like they all got a message at the same time!! And this was after the other surge where they were trampling across families and picnic blankets! At one point I could see one security guy trying to deal with about 20 aggro kids. I hope no one was seriously hurt."

In response to the concerns, Godiva Festival posted: "We apologise for your experience this evening. We are aware of what happened as the site is monitored at all times by our event control room. Security were alerted and acted swiftly which led to those involved being ejected from the site. The Next Stage was closed to prevent further disruption. Again, we apologise as this impacted your experience."