Police praise for V Festival fans

Police this afternoon praised the behaviour of tens of thousands of fans making their way to the annual V Festival, at Weston Park.

Around 85,000 people will arrive this weekend to see acts like Snow Patrol, The Killers, The Stone Roses and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

There were hold-ups on roads surrounding the showground this morning, with delays on the M54 eastbound and on the A5.

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At its peak, traffic stretched back more than seven miles, causing delays of more than an hour for those caught up in the jams.

However, Staffordshire Police, which oversees the festival, said fans were behaving well and people were being moved onto site quickly.

A spokesman said: "There have been no problems at all so far, it's been a very good start to the weekend. There are inevitably some traffic delays, but other than that, everything has gone well."

Police will mount a major operation this weekend to make sure fans keep themselves and their belongings safe. Officers will launch special operations to target opportunist thieves.

There will be a pop-up police station on site and victims of crime can also text details to 60066 – starting the message with the word 'vfest'. They can also ring independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Police will also be using their Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras – that scan car registration numbers and immediately return a 'hit' when a number plate is matched to information on police databases – on the roads around Weston Park and on entry gates.

Supt Dave Holdway, one of the event commanders, said: "We are well-used to looking after thousands of people who come to V, but it's important for everyone to do their bit in protecting their valuables.

"The cameras will let us target the small minority of people who come to commit crime and to reduce the chance of offences taking place. Our message to criminals is that we will be watching you and you will be arrested if you are caught on camera."