Ed Sheeran concert planners respond to criticism of Friday organisation at Roundhay Park

The organisers of Ed Sheeran's Roundhay Park gigs have explained that poor weather and shuttle bus problems led to issues with event management on Friday night.
Ed Sheeran at Roundhay Park on Friday nightEd Sheeran at Roundhay Park on Friday night
Ed Sheeran at Roundhay Park on Friday night

Some ticket-holders missed the support acts after they spent several hours in the queue for the shuttle buses from the city centre, while other complained of long waits to access and leave the concert site because of inadequate crowd management at the gates.

LIVE BLOG: Updates from day two of Ed Sheeran at Roundhay ParkKirstine Stones Tweeted: "Ed and Lewis Capaldi were both fantastic, everything else absolutely rubbish. Thousands of people trying to get and they are sharing one card reading machine between three lines? And as for exit, disgrace. Organisers should be ashamed."

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Another Twitter user, Rob Gillum, added: "Ed Sheeran was amazing last night but health and safety in the park was atrocious and crowd management at the exits terrible."

Parent Katie Ridding posted: "Ed Sheeran, thank you for an awesome concert - our kids' first one! But totally spoiled by venue organisation, shuttle bus, and people shouting and fighting in front of kids. Security did nothing. Love you but definitely wouldn’t come back here again."

Others slammed shuttle bus provider Big Green Coach, which supplies transport for several major music festivals around the country, as 'disgraceful' and 'shambolic', adding that there were not enough staff on duty and that those with pre-booked tickets for travel were forced to wait as long as those who had turned up on the day.

There were also complaints from disabled fans who had entered the site via the wrong entrance and been unable to access reserved viewing areas because they were too far away to walk to, with some even leaving the event early as a result.

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Video shows Glastonbury-esque mudbath at Roundhay Park for Ed Sheeran concertThe event team have been forced to undertake urgent repairs to the park after heavy rain turned much of the site into a mudbath. Videos show concert-goers slipping and sliding while trying to cross the terrain.

Concert organisers Kilimanjaro, DHP Family and Futuresound released a joint statement blaming the poor weather for many fans' decision to travel to Roundhay Park later in the evening rather than staggering their arrival times.

"The team at Roundhay Park are working hard this morning to make repairs to the site following yesterday’s heavy rain leading up to and during Ed Sheeran’s homecoming concert.

"Nearly 70,000 people attended the show and unfortunately the appalling weather persuaded many people to travel down later, which caused queues at the shuttle bus pick-up. Already anticipating the Friday evening commute within the journey time, the buses were not able to deal with the increased peak time traffic as quickly as we would have liked.

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"We have put additional measures in place for today’s service and it will benefit from the lighter Saturday traffic. We do suggest though that ticket-holders leave plenty of time to get to the park. It is also strongly recommended that people wear sturdy shoes with some grip as, although much better weather is expected today, it will likely still be somewhat muddy and uneven underfoot.

Disabled fans slam Ed Sheeran concert organisers over access difficulties at Roundhay Park"There was also confusion from some disabled customers as to which entrance they should use for accessibility viewing locations, so we would like to reiterate that if your ticket is for Wheelchair Viewing Platforms A or B, you must arrive at the concert via Gate A which is on the lake side of the park. You should park at either Mansion Lane or the Lakeside car park for this entrance. Customers with a Hill 60 Accessible Area ticket should park on the event car parks off Princes Avenue and enter via Gate B."

The second of Ed Sheeran's concerts at Roundhay Park is tonight. Gates open at 4pm.