Safe camping

Unfortunately not everyone at a festival follows the whole hippy respect-one-another line. Some scallies are there for thieving alone, but with a bit of common sense and careful planning, you should be fine.

Finding a good spot

Festival organisers believe thieves are more likely to target tents closer to the actual festival area, rather than those high up in the hills. Consequently, you might want to choose a camping spot as far from the action as possible - but not too far from other campers.

Remember that your tent is probably the same make and colour as 500 others so you might want to make it more recognisable with flags or spray painted stars - flying a pair of pants on a stick is always a tasty option.

Don't camp:

Under trees - you don't want to be struck by lightening or have it fall on you in the night.
By the path - more chance of having stuff nicked, having drunk people fall over you, waking up in a muddy lake.
Too close to the loos - it won't help your hangover.
Too far from the loos - it won't help your bladder.
At the bottom of hills - Glastonbury 2005 should be a warning to you all, you and your stuff could drown.

Everybody needs good neighbours

Getting to know your camping neighbours can be fun. It's also a good security measure. It may sound boring but try and get a neighbourhood watch system sorted where you all look out for each other's stuff. It's no guarantee of safety, but it might help. Using padlocks on your tent may not necessarily be a good idea. It suggests to thieves you have something valuable and if they want it that much, they'll just slash your tent anyway.

Keep it to yourself

Carry your cash, cards etc. with you at all times and never leave anything valuable in your tent. When you're asleep you might want to split your cash between two different secret spots - just in case one gets broken into. You can also leave that £500 dreamcatcher woven by Glastonbury fairies in one of the lock-ups on site and pick it up safely later.

Lost and lost

Labelling your clothes might be useful, especially if you're the type that drinks five bottles of cider, strips off in the sun and then forgets where you've been all day. Thought as much. Luckily for you most festivals have lost property counters where you can go and see if your sweatshirt is one of the 2,000 they have had handed in.

Bad shit

We're not putting a dampener on your fun but muggings, assaults and sexual assaults happen at all festivals, as do tent 'slash and grabs'. One way of reducing your chances of trouble is to stick together - thieves are less likely to try and rob a whole bunch of you at once.

If you discover a stranger in your tent, think carefully before acting. Jumping at the thief may be your initial reaction but it could backfire if they are armed in any way. If you are a victim of crime, contact on-site police or festival security immediately.