1. If you are under 18, really don’t even try to purchase anything at our bars. If you look under 21, our bar staff will ask for ID before they serve you. They can be prosecuted if they don’t, so please help them out and bear with it. 

2. And if you are blessed to be lovely and youthful looking, but over 18, please either get one of our 'over 18' wristbands when you arrive in the campsites, or carry ID with you. The over 18 wristband tent is located in the Village in yellow campsite, on Baker Lane.

3. Don’t try and purchase alcohol for those under 18. We will not serve you and you may be evicted from site.

Overindulgence in alcohol or drugs can have an indirect as well as direct health effects. Falls and trips are more common, as is other risky behaviour such as unprotected sex. Please see our Sex section for more information.

1. This is where all the bands play. Reading is about amazing headliners, breaking acts and a cracking atmosphere as much as anything else, and some of the tents and crowds can be pretty full on and exciting because of this. Therefore, it may worth hanging at the back a bit if you are nervous and see lots of people headed your way to see a band.

2. Chat to people and see where they think the crowds will be headed each day, or which bands are going to be the most popular and busy, and if you would rather have some space plan to stand as far back as you can. You will still be able to see and hear, and you will have a better time and more fun if the crowd is not a worry for you. It is not being a wuss, or being anxious, it is just about creating the best time that you want.

3. People do like to be pretty active near the front of any stage for some of our acts and so read up on the bands that are likely to have heavy mosh activity, and steer clear of the pits if you would prefer.

To help revellers stay safe and have fun, NHS Choices - the health information website for the NHS - and Gas Safe Register – the government approved gas registration body – have published separate safety guides offering practical tips on how to stay festival safe when using disposable barbecues or any type of camping stove.

Never take a portable barbecue – or lit charcoal – into an enclosed space like a tent or caravan. Make sure exhaust from generators is properly vented away from occupied areas Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a colourless, odourless, highly poisonous gas that can kill in minutes. Carbon Monoxide poisoning can be caused by ANY fuel that burns or smoulders.

Watch out for the symptoms – • Mild headache • Dizziness • Nausea • Vomiting • Fatigue • Drowsiness •

Please read the safety guides here before you come.

1. Your favourite trainers

2. Anything that other people will covet like iphones/ipads/ipods etc. You don’t need them anyway, unless you are looking to impress? Think of what would happen if it was to get stolen or lost…

3. Anything that you would be upset to lose.
 
4. Have a good read of our Festival Terms and Conditions and don’t bring anything on our prohibited list! If it gets confiscated, you will lose it. 

5. Any bad or anti-social behaviour with you. It will very likely get you ejected from the event. Have a read our ejection policy and remember that any sign of encouraging/inciting bad behaviour is not acceptable either. So don’t stand there laughing or egging anyone on. If you are concerned with someone else’s behaviour, make sure you report it to a member of staff.

You are likely to get a lot less sleep on site than you would at home and so please ensure you have a good exit strategy with a sober and well rested driver by the time you come to leave the car parks.  Do not let anyone drive that shouldn’t be as they are too tired, not yet sober etc.  It is too risky.

Just don’t. Really. This isn’t the 60’s, nor a place to experiment. You may also be arrested, so think of your future.

Overindulgence in alcohol or drugs can have an indirect as well as direct health effects. Falls and trips are more common, as is other risky behaviour such as unprotected sex. Please see our Sex section for more information.

1. Bring good warm bedding, an airbed too.

2. Bring good old fashioned practical footwear. Walking boots, or wellies, if it rains. It is on a farm and people tiptoeing around in flimsy trainers/flipflops look silly, may step on something sharp and not be happy
 
3. Don’t try and put fashion over comfort with your clothing. You need to keep cool in hot years and warm/dry in wet years and at night. Most years are actually a combination of the two, so pack some of both types of clothing. Those plastic ponchos are great for showers, easy to carry and so cheap.

4. Loo roll, sun cream, baby wipes, plasters, head ache remedies and a torch seem to be among the best things to bring. Traders on site sell everything in case, and don’t forget to visit our on site supermarkets for those daily essentials if you’ve forgotten them!

5. Regarding the sun cream, bring a couple of small sachets or a travel size for your bag so you don’t have to traipse back to get some when the sun comes out. A sunhat is also a great idea – remember, we are based outside, and we don’t always have the shelter to hide away from the Sun!

6. Water – drink it as much as you drink anything else, especially in hot weather. Keep a 500ml or less plastic bottle on you, and fill it up for free at water points.

7. See our Friends section.

Just be practical and no nonsense. Take some loo roll in case, breeze in and out and wash your hands afterwards. You don’t need to hang around.

Don’t forget that all of our staff use the same type of toilets, and some of us are on site for weeks. If we can do it, you guys can do it!
  

1.      Stick with them and in advance of splitting up, arrange a place to meet 2 times a day. Use this location as your meeting point if you get separated.

2.      If you’re coming to the event on your own, or are coming with only friends of the opposite sex, take the time to make friends of the same gender.

3.      If you have a tendency for trips to the toilet in the night, make sure you know exactly where your nearest ones are beforehand, or take your mate with you so you don’t get lost.

4.      Consider camping near the zone manager/campsite caravan or near a fire tower, rather than somewhere darker and sheltered?

5. If you can’t find a friend, or the ones you came with, and are fed up and understandably upset, go to the welfare tent just outside the Arena entrance, or the Samaritans. They are just there to help people like you and I, so don’t feel silly. They are there as there is demand for them. Use them.

1.    Work out exactly where you are camped – what colour festoon flags are up high, near a specific fire tower, what road etc

2.    Bring a unique flag for your tent.

3.    Find the two information tents (arena and Village in Yellow campsite) and get all the info you need from them.

4.    There are also some phone apps available that will help you find your tent. You might want to download them before you arrive at the festival?

Festivals are amazing fun, but like anywhere else with big crowds and located in the great outdoors, they can present new difficulties for people who aren't prepared. So please have a read through this guide and plan your festival with some insider knowledge!

Zone Managers are permanently situated within the campsites, either at their cabin or on patrol with their DC and CAT staff, ensuring everyone is having a safe and fun time.

Their cabin or caravan will hold all the most up-to-date information on running orders, a large site map and useful information.

Get to know the Zone Manager in your coloured campsite and do let them know if you are concerned with someone’s behaviour, if any of the facilities are not working, or if you require any information.

1. This isn’t always the Never Never Land and some less desirables will come looking for things to take. It happens everywhere else in the world, so yes, it does happen on site too. 

2. Pick pockets love a good mosh pit for dipping – it’s perfect for them. Lots of pushing and shoving and people thinking they have dropped their phones. Look after your stuff, and pick up a free Reading Festival 2012 Thames Valley Police phone and wallet lanyards that are being handed out by police and at the on site police station located at Piccadilly Circus.

3. Use the left luggage or lockers in the Village for any valuables. Just keep the cash you think you will need for the day with you.

4. Use pockets with buttons or strong zips for wallets and phones, and ensure you pick up one of the free phone and wallet lanyards as mentioned in point 2.  

5. Check out your camping neighbours and if they are nice, speak to them about looking out for each other’s tents – look out for each other.

6. Speak and get to know our campsite staff.  There are lots of them – from a zone manager in each coloured campsites, to Campsite Assistance Teams (CATs) patrolling – as they are based in the same locations / patrolling the same locations, they will soon come to recognise who fits and who doesn’t. If you are concerned with someone’s behaviour, please let a member of staff know.

7. Padlocks on tents are an invitation to thieves, and say that you’ve got something worth taking.

They are all there to look after you, your friends and the rest of our festival loving audience. Please take the time to talk to them, get to know the ones near your camping area and make the most of them. If you are concerned with someone’s behaviour, be sure to tell a steward as soon as you can – we’ll be able to sort out any potential issues before they happen.

All of our stewards and security have festival tabards on. Each tabard has a number on – try and get into the habit of seeing these. If you ever need to raise a complaint (see our Complaint section) and either mentioned the issue to a steward, or it was regarding a steward, the tabard number will help us to identify that employee amongst 3,000 others!

1. Play it safe and always use a condom. If you forget to bring any with you to keep in your tent then the Welfare tent have some spares.

2. There is a chemist on site in the hospital tent in the Village in Yellow campsite where you can buy emergency “morning after” contraception, but using condoms is more affordable, better for your health, and offers protection against disease as well as pregnancy.

3. If you meet someone new make sure your friends meet them and that they know exactly where you are going with them.

Overindulgence in alcohol or drugs can have an indirect as well as direct health effects. Falls and trips are more common, as is other risky behaviour such as unprotected sex. You can buy emergency hormonal contraception (the ‘morning after pill’) from the chemist in the on-site hospital, but it’s not free. Far better to arrive at a festival with some condoms in the rucksack or to pick some up from the Welfare tent! And if you are on the pill, remember to bring them with you.