Update: Since this story was originally posted, Slam Dunk Festival organisers have released the additional comment:
“Slam Dunk Festival 2023 would like to thank everyone who has provided their indispensable feedback so far. If you haven’t already, please raise any concerns with us directly through our post-event survey.
We are sorry about the issues that were encountered over the weekend, we take full accountability, and we are committed to improving our service.
It is with your feedback, as registered in this survey, that we will be able to consider all concerns when planning future events. We apologise that some of you did not have an experience that was up to the standard you expect when you attend Slam Dunk Festival
We are listening to you. We will be updating you on our plans to improve Slam Dunk Festival 2024 later this summer once we have collected all of your feedback.
Team Slam Dunk”
Over the past weekend, the Slam Dunk Festival took place in Leeds and Hatfield.
However, despite an abundance of great sets (our review is coming soon), the festival has received plenty of criticism from punters from both North (Leeds) and South (Hatfield) events.
Some of the issues raised by festival-goers include excessively long queues for food and drink vendors, car parking delays, water access points, and overcrowded stages.
As a response to these criticisms, the organisers behind Slam Dunk Festival have released the following statement:
Slam Dunk Festival would like to address issues which have been raised across the weekend.
We recognise there were problems and that some customers did not have an experience to the standard which they expected. We would like to apologise for the issues which occurred and ensure our customers that we are committed to improving the event.
We would like to assure all customers that neither event was oversold, and customer safety is, and always will be, paramount to the festival. Like all other major events, all our event plans were reviewed by local authorities and are in line with industry standards.
In response to the car parking and traffic issues, as previously highlighted there was an unprecedented number of cars arriving at the festival site who hadn’t pre-booked car parking. This alongside other external factors created a traffic flow issue which inevitably caused delays into the festival site. As a measure to combat the traffic flow issue, we made the conscious decision to stop checking passes for parking to increase the rate of entry to the car park and to prevent further delays. Keeping this in mind, we have made the decision to no longer provide on the day car parking, from next year only those who have pre-booked their car park tickets will be permitted to park on-site, along with other measures we are looking to implement, we believe these will create a smoother entry into event.
We also recognise the issues surrounding food vendors and queues. We were assured that we had an adequate number of food vendors for the expected number of attendees, however, we recognise that this wasn’t the case, and we are committed to increasing the number of traders at future events, along with where they are located. Similarly, we recognise related issues surrounding toilets and water points. We would like to reassure customers that these facilities are in line with industry recommendations and have been increased from previous years, however, this is something which we will increase further for future events.
We are also aware of access issues, and we will be contacting our access customers directly for their feedback.
We recognise there are other issues not highlighted in this statement. We will be conducting a thorough investigation, whilst working extremely hard to rectify all problems for future events. We have always been committed to increasing customer experience and we welcome feedback to do this. We encourage customers to complete our post-event survey to assist us with this.
North – https://forms.gle/jPNFE4w2icfGxGtC7
South – https://forms.gle/3nV9zJQnC4dkhz558
