THOUSANDS OF festivalgoers have been left angry and exhausted after the wait for buses away from the Splendour in the Grass site hit more than three hours.
Riot squad police were on site as the first night of the festival near Byron Bay ended with big crowds hitting bottle-necked queues for buses without any explanation for the delay.
Crowds were queuing for shuttle buses from the site at North Byron Parklands to surrounding areas including Byron Bay, Brunswick Heads, Ocean Shores and Suffolk Park before the main acts finished their sets.
Some reported waiting more than three hours for a bus without any explanation.
A comments thread on the Splendour in the Grass Facebook page quickly gained traction as hundreds of people commented about the lack of transport.
Some described the situation as a “moshpit” with pushing and shoving. Many said they were desperate for water and “disgusted” they paid $40 for a three-hour wait after a long day.
“The main issue was there were thousands of people trying to figure out what was going on and no organisers were around to either explain the situation or help fix it,” she said.
“People were tired, they’d been drinking all day and tempers were starting to flare.
“Nearly an hour went by with no buses showing up and then when one to Ocean Shores did arrive, the doors didn’t open for a long while and no-one was explaining what was going on.
“People were starting to get vocal and we were nervous things were going to kick off.
Clark said there was very little information about what was happening as the time ticked by.
“Besides the fact it’s an expensive ticket and the buses aren’t free, I didn’t feel safe. That’s a lot of people to be standing around for an indefinite length of time,” she said.
“When we finally got on a bus and were travelling back towards Brunswick, people were sitting on the roadside, at one point someone was hitting the side of our bus as we were driving — just people everywhere.”