A Tayside drugs campaigner has voiced his concerns about the level of violence at T in the Park.
Rev Martin Fair, who has been a leading campaigner against legal highs in Angus, is worried that a minority of revellers attend the festival to “create mayhem”.
Two of his sons attended this year’s event at Strathallan Castle and were shocked at the number of fights they witnessed.
The Arbroath minister said: “They came back from the weekend and said it was the worst they have ever seen it.
“One of their friends was approached by a group of boys and was randomly smacked in the face.
“They came away saying they thought it would be scrapped next year because of the trouble. Whether that will be the case or not I have no idea.
“Out of 70,000 revellers I’m sure it’s a small minority that are there to cause trouble but it just struck me as a real shame.”
There were more than 400 recorded crimes at this year’s festival, compared to 203 offences reported at the much larger Glastonbury festival, which attracts 175,000 people to Somerset.
Mr Fair said that the Scottish festival appeared to attract more people with a “violent agenda”.
“My sons know that there will be people taking drugs and large amounts of alcohol at T in the Park,” he continued.
“It’s so endemic and I’m sure it’s the same at Glastonbury and other festivals – but they don’t seem to report the same amount of violence.
“There seems to be an element that goes to T in the Park with a violent agenda and that’s a shame.
“One wonders what are the security arrangements are, if there are enough security personnel around.
“My sons said that in the Slam Tent there was a bunch of guys with hoods up who were just going through the crowd smacking people on the face completely randomly.
“They witnessed people getting punched on the face. Not out of any confrontation or you spilled my drink, nothing like that, just walking around hitting people.
“That’s people who have gone with no other thought than creating mayhem.”
Mr Fair, who is a music fan who has attended hundreds of gigs and festivals, said he was keen for the festival to continue but said that people should be able to attend “without fear”.
He added: “What I would be very keen not to do because I do not want to come over as some sort of officious older person who is dampening down on young people because I loved the music scene and gigs.
“What I want is T in the Park to be done to its best so that young people can go and enjoy the festival without any fear or misgivings.”
