Your safety is our priority and we’ve put in place all necessary measures to maximise public safety, working closely with local authorities at the highest level. We ask that you also play a part in keeping Download Festival safe and secure, so please take note of our messages below, pack accordingly and stay strong together.

All festival goers will be subject to extra searches of their vehicles, bags and their person.  Please be patient if there are longer queues than normal. We request that you cooperate with any security requests and searches. Please pack light!

CCTV recording is in operation throughout the festival site for public safety and crime prevention.

We strongly advise you do not bring a bag into the Arena as there will be long queues while all bags are searched. If you do wish to bring a bag into the Arena please ensure that it is no bigger than A4 sized 8.27”x11.69”. There is a limited to one A4 sized bag per person permitted into the Arena.

We don’t accept any discrimination towards any individual or groups of individuals.

Irrespective of the background of the individual, be that gender, race, disability, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity. We are proud of the diverse nature of our festivals and their customers, if you see or experience anyone undermining this – no matter the severity – please report it immediately to one of our onsite staff.

• Look after yourself, don’t overdo it, and look out for others.
• Take care, especially at night. Strong shoes for walking are a good idea – as is a torch after dark.
• Decide on a meeting point with your friends. Choose a time and place to meet up later in case you get separated from each other.
• Give any passing security or emergency vehicles plenty of space to pass and don’t ride on vehicles.
• Look after yourself, keep hydrated and make sure you know where the drinking water is located.
• Prepare for the weather, bring suncream but don’t forget your waterproofs too.
• Prolonged exposure to high volume noise can cause severe hearing damage. Ear plugs are available at the Welfare Tent.
• Pre-plan a time and place to meet with your friends in case you get separated and lose one another.
• Drink responsibly, know your limits and pace yourself.
• Get to know the people who are camped around you and help each other out.
• Please take guidance from the stewards in where is best to pitch your tent, if your tent is found blocking the fire lanes and emergency exits your tent may be removed for safety reasons.
• Learn the layout of the site – particularly your camping area so you can find toilets and stewards
• Pick out memorable points near your campsite to help remember where your camping spot is located. Are there landmarks nearby that can help you find it?
• Get to know the people who are camped around you. It makes for a nicer environment and it means you’ll be familiar with who should be coming and going in your area.
• Don’t leave valuables like your phone, purse or car keys in your tent or unattended vehicles. Lockers are available to rent to store your belongings.
• Keep your phone charged in case you’re separated from your friends.
• The Welfare Tent is open 24 hours and is staffed by experienced and supportive people. They can provide confidential advice about drugs, alcohol, legal highs and sexual health, and offer support if you need to talk. They offer a monitored rest and recovery area if you’ve overdone it. Please go to the Welfare Tent if you experience any problems or need to talk to someone for any reason.
• Those with chronic conditions such as epilepsy, asthma and diabetes should bring all their usual medications to cover the festival period, and to be aware they may require hospital treatment if they don’t take it.
• Keep an eye out for our friendly campsite staff, including security, Dog Squad and Zone Managers who will be able to help you all weekend.

We are always thinking of ways to reduce the amount of crime at events but need you to do your bit too:

• Put money, tickets, credit cards and mobile phones in a zipped pocket or use a money belt.
• Only bring what you need, excess things that you don’t need are just more things you could lose.
• Avoid bringing or withdrawing large amounts of cash and keep it safe at all times. There are cash machines on the site should you need a top up.
• Postcode the property that you do bring to the event so it is identifiable.
• If you arrive by car, ensure that you leave the doors and windows secure and remove any items from view including sat navs, stereos, CD’s and mobile phones
• Use the lockers located in the Arena and Campsite Village for personal items you wish to store safely.
• Only bring the essential bank cards. Make a note of the numbers and store at home to make cancellation easier if they do disappear.
• Track your items, more phones and tablets have GPS tracking and can be located via an app such as “Find My iPhone”.

If you do become a victim of crime, or if you see a crime happening, please then report the issue as soon as you can to a member of staff. Information coming in live helps us act quickly.

Try to remember as much as possible so you can report it including  clothes they were wearing and any facial features. Make a note of exactly where you were too using notable landmarks like loos, fire towers or unusual tents.

All crime reporting forms at the festival are filed at the Police Cabin to avoid duplication. This is open 8am – midnight throughout the event. If you need to report a crime out of these hours please speak to a member of security who will be able to assist. The cabin will also offer victim support

If anyone you don’t know comes into your tent please tell our staff immediately. If they are genuinely lost our staff can help them back to their tent.

If you think you have lost your phone visit our Lost Property Tent to check to see if it has been handed in.

If you are reporting the theft of a mobile phone, don’t forget to also contact your network provider and have the handset blocked. This will ensure that its use will be blocked across all UK networks even if the SIM card is changed, and will make it useless to the thief. A list of contact numbers for UK network providers will be available at the Information Tent and at the Welfare Tent.

Keep an eye out for our friendly campsite staff, including security, Dog Squad and Zone Managers who will be able to help you with all sorts, from finding your way around to locating onsite facilities. Be sure to help them to do their job by reporting anything or anyone suspicious to make this a safe and happy, crime-free festival.

Please take guidance from the stewards in where is best to pitch your tent, if your tent is found blocking the fire lanes and emergency exits your tent may be removed for safety reasons.

Say hello to your neighbours and set up a neighbourhood watch system so you can look out for each other’s pitches.

We take the security and safety of our festival goers very seriously – it is a real priority.

Please help us by bringing as little as possible and remember we do not allow bags larger than A4 into the arena. Please be patient while we carry out our security checks and searches, which take place at the campsite gates, the arena entrance and may also happen at any time at any location onsite.

Our security staff are there for your safety – please co-operate with them as they work to keep us all safe and sound. Some are covert, but most are obvious by their green or white tabard. Always go to them if you need help. The medical tent is fully staffed, open 24/7 and located in the campsite village. There is also a medical tent within the arena, open at all times the arena is open

There are security measures you will see and of course ones that you can’t. The whole site is monitored throughout by staff on the ground along with an extensive CCTV system watched round the clock by a team of monitors in a fully staffed Event Control.

We work very closely with Leicestershire Police and members of the security services to ensure our security procedures are up to date and we are following best practice. We put a lot of time and effort on briefing and training and run emergency exercises. We also have a team of sniffer dogs working around the clock. Please help us by reporting anything that doesn’t look right to you and also please let us know if you spot an area where we can do better and we will get on it.

• Festival Republic does not condone the use of drugs. Drugs enforcement laws are as applicable onsite as anywhere else in the UK. It is illegal to buy, sell or take drugs. All drugs are potentially dangerous, there are no harmless drugs. The only way to avoid risks is to not take drugs at all. This goes for new psychoactive substances (formerly known as “legal highs”) as well.

• But we want our festival goers to know above all else that you can come to us for help if you or your friends need it without fear of getting in trouble at any time.

• Always be honest with medics and welfare teams about what you have consumed so that they know how best to help you.

For more information on our drugs policy and advice please see here.

The Welfare Tent is situated in the Village and is open 24 hours. It provides experienced, caring and confidential help for all kinds of practical and personal problems, as well as offering general assistance and advice, counselling, a messages service and help for distressed/missing people.

The Welfare Tent also offers a recovery area for patients from medical and emergency shelter with camper mats and sleeping bags.

We don’t allow anyone under 16 to be at the festival over the weekend without an adult of 18 or over.

Children under 13 years old need to be accompanied on site at all times.

Any children 13 years found on their own will be looked after by the welfare team and we will try and get in touch.

All under 16s need to be accompanied by an over 18 through the entry and exit gates to the festival site.

If you have lost a child, please contact a member of staff or police officer immediately who will be able to help you. Any lost children are looked after by our on-site Welfare team who are located in The Village and Arena.

In an emergency, please contact the nearest member of Security, Dog Squad, Steward or your Zone Manager for help.

If a serious or life-threatening crime is being committed, please contact a member of staff or police officer immediately. If in the unlikely event you cannot find someone, please call 999.

There is a festival firefighting team who are fully equipped to deal with any fires. There are fire observation towers located in the campsites as well as fire extinguishers.  Many of the stewards and security staff have been trained in fire safety in addition to the festival firefighting team and are on hand to assist if needed.

There are medics at the festival who are fully equipped to deal with all situations along with a hospital in the Village area. The medics have roving patrols and provide an accident and emergency facility with full resuscitation, GP facilities and surgeries and psychiatric treatment. There is a landing point for air ambulances if required.

Open campfires are not allowed in at Download Festival. Anyone that starts a fire or throws toxic or dangerous items onto a fire leaves themselves liable for eviction.

NO GAS canisters or petrol fuelled cookers will be allowed anywhere on site. There will be no exception to this rule, anyone found using gas may be asked to leave site!

Alternatively please use one of the following: meth stoves including fuel, trangia stoves, solid fuel/Hexi stoves, gel stoves, green base camp cooker and firelighter stoves.

Please raise BBQ’s and camping stoves at least 30cms off the ground to avoid burning the site.

• Decide on a meeting point with your friends. Choose a time and place to meet up later in case you get separated from each other.
• Learn the layout of the site – particularly your camping area so you can easily find toilets and stewards.
• Pick out memorable points near your campsite to help remember where your camping spot is located. Are there landmarks nearby that can help you find it?
• Get to know the people who are camped around you. It makes for a nicer environment and it means you’ll be familiar with who should be coming and going in your area.
• Keep your phone charged in case you’re separated from your friends.
• Stay hydrated. There are tested drinking water points throughout the arena which are free to use.
• For a full list of what you can and can’t bring into the campsite, please view the What You Can and Can’t Bring chart under Camping.
• Keep your wits about you. Drink responsibly and know your limit.
• Carry a torch with you or enable the torch on your phone to use for when it gets dark.
• Festival stewards are here to help you. Don’t be worried about asking for help in any situation, whether it’s asking for directions or to report something or someone you’re worried about.
• Don’t leave valuables like your phone, purse or car keys in your tent or unattended vehicles. Lockers are available to rent to store your belongings.
• The Welfare Tent is open 24 hours and is staffed by experienced and supportive people. They can provide confidential advice about drugs, alcohol, legal highs and sexual health, and offer support if you need to talk. They offer a monitored rest and recovery area if you’ve overdone it. Please go to the Welfare Tent if you experience any problems or need to talk to someone for any reason.
• Those with chronic conditions such as epilepsy, asthma and diabetes should bring all their usual medications to cover the festival period, and to be aware they may require hospital treatment if they don’t take it.
• We don’t accept any discrimination towards any individual or groups of individuals. Irrespective of the background of the individual, be that gender, race, disability, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity. We are proud of the diverse nature of our festivals and their customers, if you see or experience anyone undermining this – no matter the severity – please report it immediately to one of our onsite staff.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colourless, odourless, highly poisonous gas that can kill in minutes. Never take a portable barbecue – or lit charcoal – into an enclosed space like a tent or caravan. Make sure exhaust fumes from generators are properly vented away from occupied areas.

If you think you have potentially be exposed to carbon monoxide gas from a BBQ or gas powered heater whilst at the festival, please contact a steward immediately.

Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include:

• Headache
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Tiredness and confusion
• Stomach pain
• Shortness of breath and difficulty breathing

Read more about BBQ Safety.