Door staff confiscating food on entry to events

Do any of you STW legal types know about the legality or otherwise of this practice?

Perfectly legal; their premises, they can set the rules as they see fit.

Usually some discretion is applied, eg: with kids a few bits of snacks that need handing out are OK, but you can’t take a full picnic in.

Did it say food was allowed on your ticket? Pretty sure they wont have confiscated it, more like refused entry with food, so you could have not gone in and finished eating or left it in a car.

The door staff at the Manchester Velodrome tried to do this when Chris Boardman set the hour record. The word went down the queue to say that you were diabetic and that you needed it for medical reasons, it worked for me 🙂

Chris beat the hour record as well, and I got to go to chat with him afterwards – he’s an all round top bloke 😀

Beer slipped into the cinema against the rules tastes the best ever!

I suspect confiscated is the wrong word – refused entry with it is probably more accurate. Which is annoying but nothing to do the law of the land.

What sort of events are we talking here?

My brother went to MotoGP at Assen this year, he found a curious large hole in the ground and wondered what it was. Later in the day, he saw a guy digging and what he unturfed was a large cache of several trays of beer. Genius idea. 🙂

It is slightly irritating that they are only leaving you the option of buying the overpriced tat that they sell inside (MEN Arena for example) but I can understand them not wanting people bringing glass in. But if it’s in the rules not much you can do

It is slightly irritating that they are only leaving you the option of buying the overpriced tat that they sell inside (MEN Arena for example)

I think its great, everyon else buiting it subsidises my ticket. Its either that or everyone pay more or have events cancelled as the promoter cant cover the venue cost vs ticket sales.

If it’s a festival/outdoorsy type thing, then I normally don’t go to the trouble of bringing food (apart from snacks if little fella is with us) as there’s normally a good choice of food, if always a tad overpriced. I get what jamesgarbett is saying though ^^^ when it’s an indoor arena/stadium, the choice is always this shit or that shit to eat or this piss or that piss to drink. Wembley & football stadiums being classic examples. 😡

My brother went to MotoGP at Assen this year, he found a curious large hole in the ground and wondered what it was. Later in the day, he saw a guy digging and what he unturfed was a large cache of several trays of beer. Genius idea.

Very good! 🙂 The big America’s cup event in Portsmouth this weekend which closed off large areas of otherwise public land would have be ripe for that.

At Latitide festival a couple of years ago, they were even stopping people from bringing water into the festival site. On a hot day, that absolutely sucked.

It was the ‘Americas Cup’ event in Southsea, where the security staff are reported to have acted in this high handed way, along with them conducting pat-down body searches for said ‘contraband’, which prompted my question.

It was the ‘Americas Cup’ event in Southsea, where the security staff are reported to have acted in this high handed way, along with them conducting pat-down body searches for said ‘contraband’, which prompted my question.

Was there. Relatively ‘observant’ staff I guess – but no worse than most similar events. I didn’t have anything on me (and didn’t look like I did) but there was no ‘I’m having that’, more ‘you are not coming in with that’ from what I observed. It was an odd event though as the tickets were free and it was on what is otherwise public land – but with a bloody big temporary fence around it and guards on the entrances. A lot of the angst it generated was from folk not used to this sort of event and not used to being spoken to like that (the same as at most of these events). As I said above though – it would have been so easy to have buried your contraband on the common the week before. Will know for next time if I can be bothered to go again.

It was the ‘Americas Cup’ event in Southsea, where the security staff are reported to have acted in this high handed way

Security? Heavy handed? In Portsmouth?? Never has the like been known!! 😆

“They’re trainers, you can’t come in”
“No they’re not and anyway this is a pub.”
“Yes they are, f off. Next”

Much like the diabetics ‘Do you cater for gluten and dairy intollerance’ usually perplexes most door staff who try this.

Manchester Velodrome should hang its head in shame- the cafe food is terrible. Most of it isn’t healthy and they have lots of bad sugary drinks in the cabinet for sale.

I’ve been to Velodrome events where they’ve sold utter fast food crap around the top circle.

Not a problem if its a concert however when its a world class exercise-based event in a exercise-focused arena showcasing health and fitness values why the **** does fast food get served there?

why the **** does fast food get served there?

Because people want to eat it.

We were there on Saturday. The kids could have had a salad or baked potato. They wanted an ice cream.

I can’t imagine why they’d want an ice cream when faced with such exciting alternatives.

In that cafe? (like the healthy options that you get in McDonalds- i,e a small token). Its horrible- its also overcooked. My other half told them this when challenged about the food she gave my son. She said ‘theres nothing adequate or worthwhile that I want to give my son on sale here’. It didn’t go down well but they didn’t make us leave. Rather than walk off moaning I’d have hoped they took the comment(s) onboard. They didn’t.

Why aren’t they selling a full list of healthy alternatives? People in there for events are captive customers. Not much choice really is there? My son would of course ask for chips or ice cream. The choice should be wider.

If you met MrsH shes calm/quiet yet no one would tell her to leave etc if you were in the wrong 😆

I can’t imagine why they’d want an ice cream when faced with such exciting alternatives.

I had one too. Very reasonably priced Magnums all round. Was quite refreshing not to feel that I’d been ripped off.

Talking of rubbish food choice options. In casualty the other day in southampton general the lady on reception told me that i could get some food in the burger king in the hospital….

whats that about? just what you need to recover is that.

they’ll be giving out free fags next…

Speaking of which- I wonder if those newsagents/kiosks onsite sell cigarettes. Now that’d be ironic.

Siam park in generic relieve you of everything bar fruit and water then relieve your wallet later in the day when the kids get hungry. Stand up British type argument with the woman on the door after searching our bags.

Not a gripe as such but M&S don’t like you eating food that you’ve bought from them inside their cafe.

‘but you sold it to me-look its got your name on’. Its only a bakery item (that you dont sell in the cafe) and I fancies it and I’m eating it with your coffee that I bought in here’.

I still got my ear bent off. WTF.

Unless they made you aware of a contract condition PRIOR to purchase of the ticket, I cant see its legal at all.

I cant imagine the search is legal either, but like everyone else I’d go with the “I have food allergies/diabetes/a small willy”, whichever gave me the easiest route 😉

I can see that they don’t want people taking their own stuff in, that’s fair enough. What I’ve often wondered about is the legality of taking it and NOT getting it back?.

I can see that they don’t want people taking their own stuff in, that’s fair enough. What I’ve often wondered about is the legality of taking it and NOT getting it back?.

They dont take it off you, you surrender it to be let in or walk way still in ownership of it, potentailly to come back after eating it (or hiding it better). They dont offer a ‘holding area’ for packets of crisps and tuna sandwiches for you to collect later, its just a bin.

why the **** does fast food get served there?

No ones going to break the hour record eating SLOW food, now are they? 😉

Experienced this many times and consider it one huge racket to make you buy there overpriced p!55 poor food/beer inside.

Next time going to go in with a camelbak full of beer hidden under my coat , for medicinal purposes of course.

Magic Weekend Rugby League 2013? was the best for this, the RFL doesn’t take any takings from the bars. So when the first set of lads went through the gate at Eastlands with a 4 pack it took about 15 minutes for 40000 people to exit the ground to go to the big Asda across the road. Tremendous!

Secondary purchases innit? Like popcorn at the cinema, that let you in for a fee (or free in some cases) that is loss making and top up the cost with food/merchandise purchases, standard event stuff really. They’ll sell what people will buy which is normally crap sadly, Hora may want a salad but if he’s the only one and everyone else wants a burger, that’s what you’re going to get.

Last few festivals I’ve been at have allowed you to take in your own food/booze but they are smaller independent events, and the food/drink inside is generally of a high standard and reasonable prices. Glass bottles are usually the only no-no.

Hate being forced to queue for half an hour to pay a fiver for a warm can of carling. Tend to avoid those kind of places nowadays.

What’s the food equivalent of corkage? Should have that.

What’s the food equivalent of corkage? Should have that.

I suspect most places would do that if you could find a way of either
1. Charging on entry without getting huge queues and very irate people.
or
2. Policing it once inside.

It’s not H&S, bar glass bottles, it’s money making.

****ing Tudor advert!
I digress; if it’s a concert, either a small gig, or a stadium, then anyone going ought to be able to manage for the two or three hours they’re going to be there, or else just go to the bar. Sometimes events hand out water if it’s warm. Festivals, well my only recent experience is the IoW Festival, which had a total ban on glass bottles, which is to be expected. I have memories of the Reading Festival where ZZebra were handing out free vinyl singles, which promptly got flung around like Frisbees, and Party Seven cans being hurled through the air, both resulting in people being helped away with blood streaming down their faces, I saw two young women in floods of tears covered in blood from a thrown can or single.
More recently I’ve been to gigs where bottles of water are allowed in provided the lids are removed, otherwise you have to bin them. This is a H&S issue, apparently, because of the danger of people standing on dropped sealed bottles which act as a roller underfoot, causing people to fall, which I can also understand, it could lead to quite nasty injuries if suddenly falling backwards.

This is why Glastonbury has got it right – strict rules on no glass coming in but bring in crate after crate of beer and you’re fine.

I went to an event once (Obsession I think) where the cheeky blighters confiscated all my drugs!! 😯

Chancing ****

so long as your drugs weren’t in glass containers, I don’t see what the problem is

is it true that places that serve alcohol have to give out free water? I vaguely remember this being a rule brought in after people started dying from heat exhaustion in the ecstasy days of the 1990s – but I might have made it all up (the rule, I mean, not the 1990s)