The Isle Of Wight Festival began last night (Thursday) for campers only, but it hit national news this morning but not for a good reason.
The Isle Of Wight Festival has had caused many traffic delays on the Island, which involved some people sleeping in their cars overnight and being stuck in traffic for 5 hours, this morning problems are still being caused with the traffic gridlocked on Lushington hill. John Giddings the festival's organiser has been directing traffic on the racecourse roundabout.
The reason this started is because all of the campers are coming over from the mainland and trying to get into the festivals car park, but due to all the rain it is completely bogged, so all the traffic have had no where to go so all the traffic has started.
Last night Wightlink's Fishbourne service had 3 Ferries in the Solent waiting to dock, but because of all the queues all the cars coming of the ferry had to stay in the dock, leaving 3 other ferries stuck in the solent because there was no room for all the cars on shore. However Wightlink's Lymington service has not been effected that badly, also Red Funnel hasn't either.
A video was posted on Twitter last night of the huge queues trying to get out of the Fisbourne terminal:
Last night Primal Scream played for the Campers that had managed to get to site, but earlier on in the day after Cerys Matthew's set the Big Top had to be cleared due to safety concerns over the windy and muddy conditions, but it was then reopened just before 9pm.
John Giddings also commented on Isle Of Wight Radio this morning that they have put down woodchips, gravel and it had just sunk in the mud. Some people had been waiting 9 hours in their cars to get on site. School buses on the Island had to be cancelled due to children would be arriving to late to school, and last night on the Island some school children did not arrive home until 7:40pm.
This morning John Giddings has advised people coming from the mainland to leave their cars on the mainland and travel by foot to the Island to try to break down the amount of cars coming to the Island. It was also said that Tractors were used to tow cars onto the bogged car park, and John Giddings has been using his own muscle power to pull cars onto the sight.
But John Giddings has apologised for the past 24 hours of traffic. Someone said that she left her home in Sheffield at 11am Yesterday (Thursday) and is still not on the site at the moment. On the floating bridge in Cowes there is a delay of at least 2 hours.
It is also thought that the population of the Isle Of Wight will rise quite considerably this weekend.
This morning the story was broadcast on BBC Breakfast and was is currently the most read story on the BBC's website, for the story follow this link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-18539315.
It is also the main story on the Sky News website
http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16251360
Some people have decided due to the traffic to ditch the Festival and try and sell their tickets on, but some people have turned it around and made it positive saying 'It wouldn't be a festival if it wasn't raining' and people on site are having a great time.
If you are traveling to the Isle Of Wight Festival this weekend or just around the Island then Isle Of Wight Radio have a map about the current travel situation:
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=206612792727883871655.0004c30a5ab86373c3370&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.701344,-1.26214&spn=0.047403,0.054073&source=embed
But all the traffic aside once their all the festival goers will get the pleasure of watching Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Pearl Jam, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Biffy Clyro, Elbow, The Darkness, Magnetic Man, Groove Armarda, Lana Del Rey, Professor Green, Ash, Jessie J, Example, Tine Tempah, The Vaccines and many more.
But if you are not going but want to watch the festival then fear not the whole weekend will be broadcast on Sky Arts 1 from 6pm - 12pm (Midnight) a whole 6 hours of coverage.
Left: The Traffic at Wightlink's Fishbourne terminal yesterday.
Right: The Mud already gathering at the Festival site yesterday (Thursday)
Left: The Huge delays on Lushington hill yesterday.
Right: The traffic that has caused so many problems on the Island
Left: The Isle Of Wight Festival site earlier today (Friday)
Right: The traffic on Mill Hill road yesterday, to get onto the Cowes Floating Bridge.
Left: The mud that is already starting the gather at the festival site.
Right: A festival wouldn't be complete without mud!
If you would like to read any of the news stories then here is the links for some:
Festival Travel Updates (Isle Of Wight Radio) - Audio
Festival Fans Sleep In Their Cars Overnight (Isle Of Wight Radio) - Audio
Festival Delays And Closures (Isle Of Wight Radio)
John Giddings Talks To Isle Of Wight Radio (Isle Of Wight Radio) - Audio
Pictures From The Isle Of Wight Festival Site This Morning (Friday) (Isle Of Wight Radio's Facebook Page) - Pictures
Floods Cause Festival Traffic Delays (BBC)
Hundreds Of Festival Goers Stranded On Ferries (BBC) - Audio
Festival Chaos: Mud Leaves Hundreds Stuck In Cars (Sky News) - Video
