Isle of Wight Festival boss calls for army of arts workers to aid vaccine rollout

The boss of the Isle of Wight Festival has called on Boris Johnson to make use of an "army'' of unemployed staff in the music industry to help with the national vaccine effort.

Like many in the arts, John Giddings and his staff will face a big financial hit if the popular annual music festival is unable to go ahead as intended in June.

"I am petrified they won't roll the vaccine out in time for the festival to go ahead and I want to do everything physically possible to help,'' Mr Giddings said.

"We have got trained and skilled people sitting at home doing nothing.

"We need to use them. We are at war with an invisible enemy and you have got to fight it.

"We have a whole army of people out there and they haven't been employed for the last year. If we lose this summer they are going to be in serious in trouble financially.''

The line-up for this year's festival, due to take place on June 17-20, includes major artists like Lewis Capaldi, Lionel Richie and Duran Duran.

Mr Giddings said his staff and others working in the events industry already had the skills required for helping with the set up of venues and dealing with the public.

He said: "We have thousands of people who are unemployed who are used to crowd control, health and safety. We run all the venues in the UK, we know how to get people in and out safely and properly.

"You need a doctor and a nurse to inoculate people, but logistically we can make it all happen.''

He added: "They are all really highly trained and skilled. Just because they work in rock and roll doesn't mean they are not.''