Download festivalgoers warned in opposition to making unintentional 999 calls from moshpit

When masses of 999 calls got here in from enthusiasts on the Download competition two years in the past, the emergency products and services should have concept a crisis used to be unfolding on the three-day heavy steel gig in Leicestershire.

In reality, the calls have been made routinely from smartwatches and different units worn by way of enthusiasts as a result of “the tech assumed that people in moshpits had been in a collision”, consistent with Leicestershire police.

Now the pressure is interesting to these attending the competition this weekend to show their units to aircraft mode or disable emergency signals to keep away from needless 999 calls.

The choice of 999 calls all through the development doubled from the standard 600 or so over a protracted weekend.

“In previous years, due to wearable tech issues, we saw a rise of nearly 700 extra 999 calls in a weekend,” Leicestershire police stated on social media this week. “All those calls had to be assessed … to ensure there is no threat, risk or harm, taking our contact handlers away from answering true emergency calls.”

Police are asking enthusiasts to stick at the line if their tool makes an unintentional 999 name, or to reply to callbacks made by way of emergency groups “to let us know you are safe”.

According to one US non-public damage regulation company, moshpits “always have risks and dangers” however can lead to “enjoyable chaos and energy release”.

Some wearable era features a “crash detection” function. Apple says its watches and a few iPhones will sound an alarm and show an alert in the event that they hit upon a “severe car crash”. Unless the alert is cancelled, the tool calls the emergency products and services after a 30-second countdown.

About 75,000 persons are anticipated to wait the Download competition in Donington Park, a racetrack close to Castle Donington in Leicestershire, for what the organisers name the “UK’s premier rock festival”.

The web site has been open to campers since Wednesday with the rock competition opening on Friday. Green Day, Sleep Token and Korn are the day-to-day headline acts on the competition.

This 12 months’s fancy get dressed theme is Friday 13th.

The organisers stated: “For everyone’s safety and comfort, we ask that you don’t bring any fake or replica weapons, including toy guns, swords or other realistic-looking props. These items can cause confusion during security checks and may be mistaken for real weapons by our teams or the police. They can also be distressing to other festival-goers.”