Some 650 stewards were provided for Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park by the contractor G4S Events between June 18 and 28.
This year’s Barclaycard presents BST event is the third time G4S has managed its security. The event stwaerding and security arm of the multi-national G4S will see over 10,000 staff securing millions from June to August across more than 75 events: from Aintree to Ashes cricket and Haydock.
The line-up at BST started on 18 June with the Strokes, Blur and Kylie headlining the first weekend, included mid-week comedy with Ed Byrne and Rich Hall and finished with The Who and Taylor Swift on the final weekend. About 350,000 attended the ten days of the festival.
G4S operations manager Chris Burr said: “There’s probably no other event with such a diverse audience profile anywhere in the country. It’s like four different festivals in one, so we have to bring a fresh approach every day.
“Blur have a great and dedicated fan base but they probably couldn’t be more different in behavior from Taylor Swift’s, so the challenge for us is how to deploy a team over the event period with the flexibility to keep everyone safe whilst helping spectators get the great time that they came for.”
G4S says that it equipped key personnel with body-worn cameras to improve incident response, and electronic sign-in for all staff to allow deployment of stewards to key areas at their busiest times.
Chris Burr added: “The technology we use helps us respond to incidents and more effectively and to manage the busy areas to improve the experience for spectators, but it’s just part of the first class service that our team delivers. On a hot day in June, safety is as much about keeping hydrated as it is about bodyworn cameras and incident response.”
