Police say Reading Festival was 'safe and enjoyable' for the majority
37 arrests were made at an event attended by 110,000
Last updated 2nd Sep 2022
Over the Bank Holiday weekend, Reading Festival returned welcoming around 110,000 people to the town to enjoy the live music event.
Officers and staff worked closely with the festival organisers and their teams, other emergency services and Reading Borough Council to deliver a safe and enjoyable event.
This year, we used a wide range of visible security measures to ensure the area around the festival site remained safe including our Tactical Cycles, Mounted Section, Drone Unit and Hampshire’s Marine Unit.
We are aware that there were concerns around some fires that broke out in the campsite on Sunday (28/8). Festival security teams were quick to attend the scene with water pumps and extinguish these within minutes.
In addition to this, following some anti-social behaviour in the campsite on the same afternoon, festival security identified and ejected fifty people from the site. Those ejected were safeguarded by the festival organisers, Thames Valley Police, and British Transport Police to ensure they could get home safely.
Chief Superintendent Michael Loebenberg, Strategic Commander for the policing operation, said:
“Reading Festival is one of the largest events in the Thames Valley and it was great to welcome everyone back to the town for another year.
“Over the four days of the festival, 37 arrests were made for offences including assault, drug supply, criminal damage and public order and 152* crimes were reported.
“I would like to thank all of those involved in the planning, preparation and delivery of the festival, as well as our officers and staff who policed the event to keep the public safe.”
- Compared to 135 crime reports in 2021 and 168 crime reports in 2019 – please note 152 is accurate as of 31/8. This figure may change due to delayed reporting.