Wannasee festival, Penrith dubbed a 'disgrace' by furious visitors

Wannasee Festival in Penrith is a live music event which showcases some of the best tribute acts from across the country, including The Bootleg Beatles, Kazabian and Queen Rhapsody.

One attendee, Stuart Wild, paid more than £400 for VIP glamping tickets after travelling to the festival with his eight-year-old daughter.

However, he was left shocked by the 'shambolic' state of toilets, and raised issues with the festival's approach to health and safety.

He told the News & Star: "It took five and a half hours to get in and none of the staff knew what they were doing.

"I’ve worked in security and worked festivals, so I know what to expect. It was just a nightmare. When we finally got in, the toilets were already blocked and weren’t flushing. There was no running water and there was a mess up with the wristbands, as they told us we weren’t entitled to the VIP area, which wasn't what was advertised.

"It was just downhill from there really."

Very few festivals can claim to offer pristine toilets but for the 'VIP toilets', which Stuart suggested cost around £50 to have access to, visitors would certainly expect basics such as running water, soap and sanitary products.

One of the toilets at Wannasee Festival (Image: Supplied)

But he claims that Wannasee festival failed to provide this.

A lack of lighting also made night-time trips to the toilet trickier.

Stuart said: "The toilets throughout were shambolic and the lighting was prehistoric; hoping the moon will grant us a glimmer of light to help us get anywhere was laughable."

And Stuart wasn't alone in his protestations, as users on Facebook also shared their disappointment. 

Dawn Smith-Wild described the toilets as a 'disgrace' and 'absolutely stinking.'

Dawn didn't hold back in her criticism of the event on Facebook (Image: NQ Staff)

When approached for comment, festival organiser Alex Hutchinson said: "Despite the challenges presented by the weather, our team worked incredibly hard to deliver a successful event, and the vast majority of our customers embraced the British weather for what it is – not enough to spoil a great weekend.

"While we appreciate people’s concerns about potential safety, it should be noted that the event ran according to plans which have been verified by all relevant authorities and enforcement agencies, and its management was conducted by a team of trained safety professionals, and monitored by an on-site presence by the local authorities and emergency services.

"There is no question that the event did not meet stringent health and safety standards throughout.

"The traffic management plan was the result of intensive work with various agencies to minimise traffic disruption on the roads nearby the event, and was a great success with queueing times on the road not exceeding 25 minutes at any point.

"Our decision to relocate queuing to a safe area within the festival, with access to toilets, lighting, security, medical and welfare was well received by the overwhelming majority of our customers as a touch not normally planned for by most events."

Stuart claimed to have waited in traffic for five and a half hours before getting in, while multiple users who replied to Dawn's Facebook post also dispute Wannasee Festival's claim about the queueing times. 

Such was the state of the ground after heavy rain, some visitors felt the need to pay £35 to have a tractor pull their cars out of the mud.

However, organisers suggested that these tractor teams were not associated with the festival and were removed from the site.

The rainy weather naturally saw the mud worsen but Stuart claimed that nothing was done to try and rectify this, which meant that the festival was less accessible for those with disabilities or mobility problems.

Alex added: "As with all festivals, there were of course challenges and issues here and there and it would be preposterous for us to deny that there weren’t or always will be.

"But we must give credit to our team and contractors who responded swiftly to rectify each and every problem and keep the weekend running.

"Once again, we should thank the 99 per cent of customers who’ve embraced the weekend and had a great time of it, their positive atmosphere makes the event what it is."