Protect Young People at Reading Festival: Strengthen Campsite Safety and Safeguarding Before 2027

Reading Festival is a major event enjoyed safely by thousands of people every year. However, accounts emerging following Reading Festival 2026 raise serious questions about safety and safeguarding within the campsites, particularly for younger attendees.

Reading allows 16- and 17-year-olds to attend and camp without an accompanying adult. Following serious disorder at the festival in 2022, including nationally reported violence and tents being set alight, additional safeguarding measures were introduced.

Those changes were welcome. But four years later, parents and attendees are again describing frightening experiences within the campsites. Accounts shared with me include tents allegedly being deliberately destroyed, belongings stolen, objects being thrown, young people leaving the festival early because they felt unsafe, and teenagers finding themselves without usable shelter overnight.

I am continuing to gather and verify these accounts. This petition does not claim that every allegation has been independently established, nor does it suggest that Reading Festival is unsafe for everybody. Many people had fantastic experiences in 2026, and those experiences matter too.
But safeguarding cannot be judged solely by the experiences of those who never needed it.

The question is whether the measures introduced after 2022 are sufficient when something does go wrong — particularly within the campsites, overnight, and for 16- and 17-year-olds attending without their parents.

I am calling on Festival Republic, Reading Borough Council and relevant partner agencies to conduct a thorough review of campsite safety and safeguarding before Reading Festival 2027, including:

• Age-appropriate camping options: Review whether camping arrangements should better reflect different safeguarding needs, including dedicated family/under-16 camping, an optional camping area specifically designed for unaccompanied 16- and 17-year-olds, and adult camping areas. Any youth camping option should have appropriate access controls, welfare provision and increased safeguarding presence.

• Independent post-2026 safeguarding review: Review what happened in 2026, including positive outcomes and reported incidents, and assess whether the measures introduced since 2022 are demonstrably working. Publish the findings and resulting actions planned for 2027.

• Consistency across the whole festival: Review whether security, welfare, safeguarding and incident responses are being delivered consistently across different campsites, times and levels of demand. The effectiveness of safeguarding depends not only on what provision exists, but on how consistently it is implemented.

• Specific safeguarding plan for independent 16- and 17-year-olds: As Reading permits this age group to attend and camp without an adult, there should be clear procedures for destroyed or unusable accommodation, medical and welfare emergencies, ejection, contacting parents or guardians, and situations where safe onward transport is not available.

• Active pre-festival safety induction: Move beyond relying solely on passive webpages by introducing a short, interactive pre-arrival safety and safeguarding induction for independently attending under-18s. This could cover consent, throwing objects, fires, tent destruction, drugs and spiking, helping vulnerable friends, where to seek help, and the consequences of serious behaviour.

• Make consequences clear before attendance: Clearly communicate the consequences of serious or dangerous behaviour during the ticketing and pre-arrival process. Attendees should understand the potential consequences of their actions before entering the festival, rather than discovering them only after an incident has occurred.

• Staff vetting and training review: Review and provide transparency about what safeguarding and background checks apply to different festival roles and whether these are appropriate to their responsibilities, particularly for personnel who regularly interact with unaccompanied minors. Relevant safeguarding, first-aid and emergency-response training should also be reviewed.

• Risk-led security deployment: Rather than simply increasing security numbers, ensure staff can be dynamically deployed according to campsite capacity, emerging incidents and higher-risk periods. This should include appropriate active patrols and rapid responses to developing problems.

• Review entry and search procedures: Examine how consistent and effective searches are maintained during peak arrival periods and whether measures such as timed entry windows could reduce pressure while maintaining appropriate security standards.

• Safe accommodation and safe exit: Ensure there is a clear and easily understood route to safety when someone's accommodation becomes unusable, particularly overnight. Appropriate emergency shelter, welfare support and safe-exit arrangements should be available, with specific consideration given to unaccompanied minors and those unable to travel home immediately.

• Tent responsibility and sustainability: Investigate practical deposit, incentive and rental models that could increase accountability for camping equipment while reducing abandoned tents and waste. This could include reusable/rental tent schemes, return incentives, clearer final-day instructions and improved systems for allowing usable equipment to be reused or donated.

• Accessibility review: Examine whether accessible camping capacity, transport, mobility assistance, welfare support and contingency arrangements are sufficient to meet demand throughout the festival.

• Better communication and transparency: Existing measures can only achieve their full purpose if attendees know about and understand them. Welfare services, emergency procedures, behavioural expectations, consequences for dangerous behaviour, safeguarding provision and sustainability schemes should be communicated clearly and actively before and during the festival.

Finally, the findings of the review — and the resulting changes planned for Reading Festival 2027 — should be made public.
The changes introduced after 2022 deserve recognition.

The question now is whether they are working for the people who actually need them, in the places and at the times when they are most vulnerable.