Organisers of the country’s biggest music festival say they are confident a revised traffic plan will cope with thousands of revellers descending on rural Perthshire in a few weeks’ time.
DF Concerts have drawn up a new traffic management plan for T in the Park in the wake of chaotic scenes last year when some cars queued up to three hours to leave the Strathallan Estate site following performances by bands on the Saturday evening of the event.
Thousands of music fans were left stranded in car parks as traffic ground to a standstill. Tractors were called in to haul some vehicles out of the muddy car parks.
Some revellers complained of a lack of stewarding, no clear signposting and no clear queuing system.
With that in mind, T in the Park appointed Ian Martin, a former road traffic inspector with Tayside Police, to the role of transport manager and he developed the new transport plan along with Melvin Bann, T in the Park’s executive producer.
A host of new measures have been devised to try to minimise disruption for revellers attending this year’s festival, which will feature the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Stone Roses and Calvin Harris as its headline acts.
These schemes include separate roads for buses and cars accessing the site, an improved bus station in a new location, dedicated pick-up and drop-off points and new car parks.
Ticket holders have also been reassured that each transport hub will have dedicated management teams and facilities to ensure their comfort.
Organisers have reiterated there are no safe walking routes to or from the festival. Citylink are providing a shuttle bus service from Auchterarder, Aberuthven, Gleneagles Station, Crieff, Muthill, Braco, Greenloaning and Blackford.
Mr Martin said: “We’ve completely overhauled the transport plans with a focus on minimising disruption for the local community.
“We’ve separated access and roads for buses and cars and have the new pick-up and drop-off points, which will create a much better flow of traffic.”
He added: “We are confident in the set-up for 2016, but T in the Park is Scotland’s biggest festival and heavier volumes of traffic are to be expected, particularly on the Monday morning. We ask everyone to plan ahead accordingly.”
T in the Park has also arranged a new pick-up and drop-off point, located along the A823.