'They have more money than sense': Outrage from charity after tonnes of rubbish left at Leeds Festival 2019

Hundreds of thousands of people descended onto Bramham Park this weekend for three days of music at Leeds Festival.
The mess at Leeds Festival after charities had already cleared up for 3 hoursThe mess at Leeds Festival after charities had already cleared up for 3 hours
The mess at Leeds Festival after charities had already cleared up for 3 hours

-> Huge clean up operation as thousands of people leave Leeds FestivalBut what they left behind was an ugly sight - abandoned tents, sleeping bags and tonnes of rubbish.

As music fans left the festival on Bank Holiday Monday, charities bravely took to Bramham Park to tackle the mess.

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Ramona Green, age 39, helps to organise a homeless outreach project called Hidden Homeless.

The mess at Leeds Festival after charities had already cleared up for 3 hoursThe mess at Leeds Festival after charities had already cleared up for 3 hours
The mess at Leeds Festival after charities had already cleared up for 3 hours

She went to Leeds Festival on Monday, braving the scorching heat to find resources to distribute to homeless people across Leeds.

They picked up tents, sleeping bags, waterproof jackets and even unopened food after searching through the rubbish for about 3 hours.

And after being homeless herself, Ramona knows how important these resources are for people living on the street.

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She said: "The mess was shocking, but it is good that we can get to these resources.

Miles of rubbish at Bramham ParkMiles of rubbish at Bramham Park
Miles of rubbish at Bramham Park

"I’ve never been to a big festival like Leeds, I couldn’t believe the stuff left behind.

“When we left, it was still a massive state. We were just in one field and some of the other fields were completely full of rubbish.

“We couldn’t take everything as we are limited with resources, there were some huge tents that must have cost about £600 that we didn’t know what to do with.

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“It's unbelievable that people leave them behind, they must have more money than sense.”

Ramona was shocked that Leeds Festival do not have charity drop-off points, where people can leave their unwanted tents for homeless charities to pick up.

-> 19 of the best crowd pictures from a scorching Leeds festivalShe is going to get in touch with the organisers to see if they can introduce a drop-off point next year.

Ramona added: "We could advise the organisers on how to run the drop-off point and it would make a huge difference, even if only saved half the mess of this year.

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"Resources like tents save people's life, that's the honest truth.

"It's not ideal living in those conditions, but it's something short term as it's better to have a tent than nothing at all.

"We are always looking for help and we are desperate for storage, at the moment we store all the resources in a volunteer's garage.

"If people could offer up their time, storage or donate clothing - it could save a life."

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