Download Festival warning as police urge attendees NOT to wear smart watches after 'issues' last year
Festival-goers have been told to leave their smart watches at home when visiting Download after the cops received hundreds of accidental calls from mosh pits last year.
Leicestershire Police said on a routine weekend the force handles around 600 emergency calls - but during Download Festival weekend there was 700 more than usual.
Body-worn devices, such as smart watches, automatically calls the emergency services if it senses the wearer has been in a crash or suffered a fall.
The significant increase in calls places a 'huge burden' on call handlers as they have to be assessed and then called back three times to ensure the caller is safe.
This process takes resources away from genuine emergencies, the cops warned.
Officers have urged the head-banging heavy metal fans to put their smart watches into airplane mode before entering 'the pit' as the wearable tech 'assumes they have been in a collision'.
Disabling emergency alerts on the watches were also advised - or to leave them at home altogether.
In an Instagram post shared this week, Leicestershire Police also suggested staying on the line if their watch has called them by mistake.
The rock and metal festival held in Donington Park, Leicestershire, between June 13 and 15 will be attended by up to 130,000 people and will feature performances from Green Day, McFly, Korn and Weezer.
A Leicestershire Police spokesperson said: 'Download Festival starts this weekend. In previous years, due to wearable tech issues, we saw a rise of nearly 700 extra 999 calls in a weekend.
'The tech assumed that people in mosh pits had been in a collision, causing 999 contacts and abandoned 999 calls.
'All those calls had to be assessed, with three outbound call attempts completed to ensure there is no threat, risk or harm, taking our contact handlers away from answering true emergency calls.
'Help Us Help You by answering our callbacks from hidden numbers to let us know you are safe. We also recommend switching on 'airplane mode' or disabling emergency alerts on your wearable tech.'
The warning comes only weeks after the latest Download Festival controversy which saw LGBTQ acts threatening to boycott after organisers followed the Supreme Court's ruling over gender.
The ruling said that trans men and women should use toilets according to their biological sex - not the gender they identify as.
But last month, trans pop-punk artist Noahfinnce says the decision will be put people 'in danger', declaring the decision means: 'My trans sisters have to risk outing themselves in the men's [toilets]'.
The row has come to the attention of Harry Potter author and women's rights campaigner JK Rowling, who said of the complaints by trans artists and campaigners: 'Nothing short of women's total capitulation will be good enough for them'.
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