Leeds Festival: Disposable vapes and BBQs banned for 2023

Disposable barbecues and single-use vapes will be banned at this year's Leeds Festival for the first time amid increased wider security.

As part of the changes, police will also have an armed response vehicle at Bramham Park as a precaution.

More drug detection dogs will also be on site during the event, which runs from 25 August to 27.

It comes after organisers admitted security at the 2022 event was "perhaps not good enough".

Several tent fires erupted amid chaotic scenes on the Sunday night of the festival last year, the Local Democracy Service reported.

The event was also marred by the death of 16 year-old David Celino, who was thought to have taken an ecstasy tablet before falling fatally ill, according to police.

An inquest into the Salford teenager's death is due to be held later in August.

While campfires have been banned at the event for years, barbecues have now been added to the list of prohibited items in an attempt to reduce the risk of fire.

The disposable vapes ban is focused around the festival's efforts to be more eco-friendly, although Festival Republic director Melvyn Benn admitted preventing people from bringing them in would be "impossible".

Speaking at a Leeds City Council licensing committee meeting on Tuesday, he said: "We are heavily discouraging the use of them and where they are found they will be taken from people. Refillable vapes will be sold on site."

The committee was also told there had been issues with the X-ray facilities at last year's festival, as well as with transferring patients to hospital.

Procedures have been improved ahead of this year's event, organisers said.

Around 1,300 festival-goers needed medical attention on-site over the course of the weekend, with 21 taken to hospital.

A police representative told the meeting there had been 141 recorded crimes, which he said was "slightly up" on figures from the 2021 festival.

Committee chair councillor James Gibson praised organisers for their "thorough" response, after he and colleagues had called for changes to be made earlier this year.

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