If the lessons from this year's traffic problems are not applied, a council boss has warned that the Download Festival may be in jeopardy.
On June 7 and 8, the rock music festival caused significant traffic congestion in the area around Donington Park in Leicestershire.
The worst lines he had ever seen at the festival, according to Nick Rushton, made it an "absolute disaster.".
But he added that he was confident that the traffic would improve the following year "with a little bit of controlling".
Leicestershire County Council's leader, Mr. Rushton, stated: "Donington are pretty good operators but they really messed up big time this time.
For the following year, something must change, or else I'll demand that the event be canceled. ".
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the festival was held over four days this year rather than just three.
Roads like the M1, A50, and A453 became blocked, and some people claimed they waited in line for the site for more than seven hours.
Not only festival-goers were delayed, according to Mr. Rushton.
"My lawyer, who works in Ashby and lives in Melbourne, took two and a half hours to travel home from work," he said.
"It was an absolute disaster. Hundreds of people sent me emails from their cars, made calls to me from their cars, tried to get to the airport, and 600 people actually missed flights. ".
The festival's organizers, Live Nation Entertainment, concurred that the clogged roads were "unprecedented and unacceptable.".
To find out what went wrong, it started an investigation.
It declared that Download would resume its customary format in 2024, with the campsite opening two days beforehand to "spread" the attendees' arrival.
It should be much better the following year, according to Mr. Rushton, with some control and the elimination of the four-day festival.
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