READING Festival campers have described how they fled in terror after witnessing mobs burning tents and attacking officials.

Refugees from the site gathered at Reading Station after reporting unprecedented levels of hooliganism and violence on the night of Sunday, August 30, with some vowing never to return.

Jon Faulkner, 26, has been going for 10 years and was celebrating the anniversary of meeting his wife Laura, 28, at the event, but said: "I could never go back. It was really nasty."

He told the Chronicle a 1,000-strong mob was setting fire to people's tents and dancing round them to a drum beat and added: "Two security guards came and tried to sort it out but people tried to beat them up. There were people like myself and a couple of others that were shouting, 'Get off them'. They were punching and kicking them and shouting, 'We are the angry mob'."

The guards managed to escape and the Faulkners, from the Isle of Wight, promptly left for the station.

Mr Faulkner said: "There were lots of people that were scared. It was brilliant up until that last night when it just went mad."

The site had its own security and fire teams, but an 18-year-old student from Burghfield described seeing yobs throw smoke grenades into the toilets, seize wooden stakes to smash the windows of a site steward's caravan, set fire to a telegraph pole, explode forbidden gas canisters and throw glass bottles at security guards, firefighters and police in riot gear. He said: "It was an absolute nightmare. It all just got totally out of hand. It was an unholy, terrifying atmosphere."

He said despite going for seven years he did not think he would return, and called for an ID-based ticket system so trouble-makers could be banned, drug and gas canister searches when entering the campsite or even for the event to be suspended for a year.

Other festivalgoers have also reported problems on the Chronicle's website and fan forums, with some posting videos of the riots. They speculated that the problems were caused by drug and alcohol-crazed yobs frustrated by ticket and beer prices and rumours of a campfire ban. But festival boss Melvin Benn said he did not think there had been an issue with fires or policing and said: "My feeling is that things were pretty good and there was no reason for people to leave early, but if people do feel vulnerable then that is what they should do."

A teenager was taken to hospital with burns after a suspected campfire accident at the festival.

The 17-year-old boy was first taken to Reading's Royal Berkshire Hospital, where staff called the fire brigade to help them cut a titanium ring off his swollen finger. Firefighters were called at 2.16am on Monday last week and took one an hour to saw through the metal before the boy was transferred to Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, which has a specialist burns unit.

Crew manager David Newton, from Wokingham Road fire station in Earley, said: "Because it was titanium, we struggled with any blades to tackle it, but we managed to get through it."

Mr Newton said it was not clear how the teenager got burned but warned people people to be careful around bonfires.

He said: "Just be sensible with keeping distance."

Chief Inspector Les Stone said: "The last night of the festival was busy, but there was nothing that we had not experienced in the past.

"There were some public order incidents on the campsites but there were no serious crimes or significant incidents."

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