Falling Sign Injures 6 at Big Church Festival as Strong Gusts Halt Friday Events
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 28
Falling Sign Injures 6 at Big Church Festival as Strong Gusts Halt Friday Events
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 28
Summary
Six people were injured after a large wooden sign collapsed at the Big Church Festival near Steyning shortly after 15:30 BST, prompting organisers to pause the event and cancel all remaining Friday programming.
Witness Theo Saville said the sign fell with the wind near the entrance to a tented area, while local MP Andrew Griffith reported strong gusts in the area that afternoon.
Ambulance crews, critical care paramedics, specialist response teams and an air ambulance were sent to the site, with Sussex Police staying on scene after being called at about 15:40.
Day visitors were told to leave immediately, campers were ordered back to their campsites or allowed to depart, and police warned of traffic disruption around Washington Road.
The sold-out festival, which calls itself the UK's biggest Christian festival, opened Friday and had been scheduled to run through Sunday.
Why did a massive wooden sign collapse in merely 27mph winds, and were strict engineering limits ignored at the festival?
Could digital safety tracking and micro-climate monitoring have prevented the terrifying structural failure that injured six festival-goers in West Sussex?
With temporary structures posing severe risks in changing weather, who is ultimately held accountable when festival signage becomes a dangerous hazard?