Wireless Festival was described by disabled ticketholders as “disheartening” and “a waste of money and time”.
Over the weekend, J. Cole and A$AP Rocky performed at the Crystal Palace event.
Wheelchair users had to deal with steep hills, gravelly roads and dimmed views of the stage.
Katouche Goll says, “I am tired of feeling like second-class citizen,” Radio 1 Newsbeat reports.
“We were stuck at the platform. It was windy and cold, and they took an hour to get us seats up there the first day.
The 25-year old, who has cerebral palsy, paid more than PS200 for the ticket. She felt it was “a waste”.
Katouche was there along Lexi, her friend. Lexi said that it felt like a struggle trying to navigate through the “potholes gravel steep hills”.
She described “bad flooring and pathways” throughout the building, which she said were meant for wheelchair users and “mainly for go karts”.
According to music fans, the festival site was more difficult to access the harder they tried.
Lexi’s wheelchair comes with an attachment that makes it easier for her to navigate through uneven and difficult surfaces. However, she couldn’t “go up the ramp because it wasn’t gripped”.
At a second viewing platform, her view was blocked by “a tree right before us”.
Lexi thanks a security guard who made “a small area for us so that we can see the stage”, however, she feels provisions should have been present “in the first instance”.
It’s very upsetting and sad. We wanted to celebrate with our friends so it was very upsetting for us to have to travel there and not be able to see other people.
Katouche claims that staff were unable to direct her towards the accessible entrance.
She felt that most workers were “completely incompetent, unbothered, and somewhat hostile to any type of request we have”.
Lexi claims that previous Wireless Festivals were well-organized with access guides and information being sent out in advance.
The pair feels that organizers should consult with disabled people.
Lexi and Katouche will both be at Finsbury Park Wireless next weekend. They are hopeful that things will improve.
Although Festival Republic and Live Nation have yet to respond to Newsbeat’s request, they did offer a full refund to Lexi.
They wrote to her and admitted that they had “fell below” the normal standard of conduct.
We hope that you will not be discouraged from attending our future festivals.
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