Organisers of Scotland s biggest music festival have brought in two former police officers to act as troubleshooters at this year s event.
Colin Brown and Ian Martin, both of whom have worked at T in the Park in previous years, will be in charge of security and traffic management when it returns this summer.
Colin Brown
The pair have been hired three months after promoters DF Concerts apologised for the handling of last year s event, the first to be staged at the festival s controversial new site at the Strathallan Estate, in Perthshire.
It was relocated there from Balado, in Kinross-shire, after almost two decades following long-standing concerns about the safety of an underground pipeline.
The festival, which is said to be worth 15 million to the local economy, has also brought in an event management company, APL, from over the border to help address a host of issues which marred the first year at Strathallan.
The event was inundated with hundreds of complaints over traffic chaos, the festival s shuttle bus services, levels of congestion inside the arena and poor security at the campsite.
Lengthy queues were reported getting to and from the new festival site, as well as entering the main arena, while there were complaints that festival-goers were left waiting in the dark for hours to get picked up.
Mr Brown, the festival s new security manager, was in charge of emergency event and resilience planning for the whole of the north of Scotland for more than five years . He also led the policing operation at T in the Park in recent years.
Mr Martin, who was involved in the management of traffic at T in the Park s Balado site, is said to have worked on the roads network in Perth & Kinross for more than 20 years.
The track record of Northumberland-based APL includes working on major events like Glastonbury, the BBC s Proms in the Park, Bestival and Creamfields, as well as huge concerts by U2, The Rolling Stones and Eminem.
Colin Rodger, event manager of T in the Park, said: We ve had a full de-brief on the 2015 festival with all relevant agencies including Police Scotland, Traffic Scotland and Perth and Kinross Council as well as festival-goers and local residents.
We have listened to every single comment and we thank everyone for their invaluable input . We re now focused on delivering the 2016 festival and we know where we need to improve .
By restructuring the management of key areas, such as the site and security, we will solve issues from last year s event.
Colin and Ian are very well-respected and highly experienced professionals and both have worked on T in the Park in their former Police Scotland roles, so they understand the festival.
APL Events are leaders in their field and have run some of the most popular festivals in the UK.
We re constantly moving forward and putting measures in place to make T 2016 memorable for all the right reasons.
A return to Strathallan was confirmed in the wake of huge controversy over the Scottish Government s state aid support for the event.
Culture secretary Fiona Hyslop has claimed the event could have been moved out of Scotland by DF Concerts had it not received 150,000 from the government.
In his apology to fans last November, festival director Geoff Ellis said he was genuinely sorry that the first year at our new site didn t go as well as we hoped for some of you.
Promised changes include a revamped site for the festival itself, new pick up and drop off points, better communication with public transport operators and new hub closer to the arena, the introduction of volunteer help teams at the campsite, and an overhaul of entry points to the festival.
The festival is also to explore setting up a dedicated park and ride site for the event and improving links to Gleneagles railway station.
Mr Brown said: I ve worked at the festival for several years and look forward to revamping the security set up and having a more hands-on role in one of the biggest highlights in Scotland s cultural calendar.
I m no stranger to the policing of T in the Park, having led the operation for several successful weekends previously.
This year we want to make sure all festival-goers can have fun and feel safe while on site, with security staff fully briefed and the right numbers of staff in the right places.
We re confident we ll have measures in place so that everyone can haves a great weekend in July.
Mr Martin added: I have worked with the festival for many years, so am more than familiar with the planning process of an event of this stature and I look forward to implementing my experience to my role.
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