Expect the unexpected at Hastings Pier events

When Hasting Pier advertises its events they provide an exciting ‘What to expect’ summary to whet your appetite, but that’s not the whole story. When things don’t pan out, it is nigh-on impossible to get accountability or, heaven forbid, a refund. Dee Williams has been talking to people who found the recent Lookalike Tribute Festival on the pier to be a major disappointment. 

When Shannon and her family attended the Lookalike event at the pier on Sunday 25 August she didn’t expect the harsh treatment she received from security at the gate.

“…while waiting to get in we noticed that security where taking everyone’s food and drinks and just chucking it in the bin. When we asked if we could take food in we was told no as they had food stands on the premises when we explained that we had 4 children with high additional needs (we were a party of 6 adults and 8 children) and due to this they only eat certain things due to being autistic. We were told by the security that it wasn’t their problem.

“Once we got to the bag search after taking the food back to the car, security proceeded to check my two-year-old’s nappy bag to even take it as far to spray her nappy cream on his finger to make sure it was actually cream. As I went to go through, he noticed the bottles underneath my buggy which were for my children. He then made me empty them out. And when I tried to explain that my two-year-old needed the bottle to drink from as she wasn’t going to be drinking alcohol or anything and couldn’t drink from a cup he told me if I didn’t empty it he wouldn’t let us in.”

A number of people were caught out by the ‘no food’ rule and even people with diabetic health conditions had to argue with security to take in their emergency biscuits.

Helena Wojtczak commented:  “… 10 minutes after I got settled on the pier a man came up to me and told me that his wife who is a diabetic and was also on a mobility scooter had become involved in an argument with security because she had a small packet of digestive biscuits in her front basket, which she has to carry in case she has a diabetic hypo.”

Security staff informed anyone who asked about the rules that it was printed on their ticket – no food to be taken in and no re-entry. A number of people complained after the event that they were not aware of these rules and needed to leave to move the car or fetch chairs. So why were so many people caught out? It was actually much harder than just looking at your ticket to find the important ‘what to expect’ information.

The only thing printed on the ticket was that VIP ticket holders could queue jump,  but in fact they couldn’t as there was only one queue for everybody. One of the security staff said without a hint of irony: “Well we don’t know who has a VIP ticket until they get to the front of the queue.”

Steve Marino didn’t expect his 81 year-old-mother to be reduced to tears when, half-way through the event, security decided to aggressively move everyone who had brought their own chairs from the front of the stage area.

“…we were told taking seats were ok then to find security trying to force us to move to the side, we got there early to get the good spots, to be surrounded by security, my 81 Yr old mum got very upset over this(crying) and this was supposed to be a family event.”

The VIP ticket holders didn’t expect to find the VIP area behind the stage where none of the acts could be seen or heard.

“I bought a VIP ticket and got a carer ticket as well as I’m registered disabled. There was no information online about accessibility and the line up of the bands. I turned up to a queue I had to join when buying the VIP tickets it said we wouldn’t have to queue. Then I asked where the VIP section was and was told it was at the top of approx 25+ steep steps! Inaccessible for me and others that were in wheelchairs or mobility scooters.

“Plus you couldn’t see the stage or hear the music as VIP area was behind the stage. Whoever thought that it would be OK to make VIP people pay more not to see or hear the bands and also not enough seats for VIP’s either to sit down as over subscribed! Ridiculous!” (Name withheld) 

There were a number of complaints about the way a man was surrounded by security guards in the VIP area and escorted from event. A spokesman for Sussex Security Services said that he was an aggressive criminal wanted by the police. Others have stated that he simply refused to hand over a packet of crisps.  And nobody expected to see a member of the security team wearing knuckle-dusters.

Social media was awash with complaints the following day and some made complaints directly to Sussex Security Services Brighton and Samurai Security Hastings who manned the event. But here is where the accountability trail becomes somewhat murky.

James from Sussex Security Services said the rules were nothing to do with them. They were set by the “event organisers” who “rip everyone off and we get the backlash”. Meanwhile Phil from Samurai Security Hastings said he couldn’t comment as he wasn’t there on the day. He said not to trust social media reports but declined to give an authoritative account saying, “I don’t really care what is reported.”

The event organisers for the Lookalike Tribute Festival were Jaly, who also don’t seem to care that their reviews scores on Trustpilot are on the floor. 

They don’t reply to complaints or requests for refunds. The tickets were sold through Skiddle who say they are just the ticket platform – nothing to do with them. The pier is owned by Sheikh Abid Gulzar and his Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) at the time was Max Wolf. There are rules for pier events about no re-entry but to find them you must first click to buy a ticket, then scroll to the bottom of the page and open FAQ. There is nothing here about taking food and drink to an event, so it is no wonder many people were caught out.

Sheikh Gulzar owns the food outlets on the pier so it makes financial sense to keep a captive audience queuing up to buy all their food and drink within the confines of the pier. At a recent council meeting Max Wolf was dismissed as DPS for repeatedly breaching safety regulations.  It will be for the owner of the pier to replace him, but will the next DPS be any better?

It would appear that thanks to the myriad web of promotors, event organisers, pier managers and security teams, it is impossible to hold anyone to account as they all blame each other when questions are asked. Badly run events bring shame on our town when people have travelled long distances to attend.

However, this is a national scandal as the event organisers collude with the ticket sellers to rip off the public, simply moving on to a new venue and finding new suckers to fleece for their money, no questions asked. 

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