A petition has been launched by the father of a teen who died on the first night of T in the Park this year, calling for age restrictions to be enforced at music festivals in the UK.
Chris Bell, 44, set the petition up on website change.org, asking that the age limit be set at 21 to help prevent what happened to his daughter Megan happen to other festival-goers, the Courier reports.
Miss Bell was 17 when she died in a temporary hospital shortly after 02:00 on July 8th at the Strathallan Castle site. Mr Bell is now calling for a full inquiry over her death to take place, saying that drugs were not a part of her life and he believes that her drink may have been spiked.
“The stories that we heard since mainly include youths taking drugs and drinking heavily. I strongly believe that an adult would not experiment or adhere to peer pressure like a child would,” he went on to say.
Instead of raising the age limit for such events, festival staff could operate a front of house drug testing service like they’re doing at Secret Garden Party this year. Revellers can bring a sample of their drugs to those in charge and have them tested in front of them so they can find out what exactly is in them – and make an informed decision about whether or not they should take them.
It’s certainly worth thinking about how drug use at festivals can be managed, so why not carry out a review of your processes and procedures today?