Article: published on 26 June 2023

Thousands of people are heading home from the Glastonbury Festival, which ended on Sunday with a headline performance from Elton John.

Other festival headliners included Arctic Monkeys and Guns N' Roses.

The clean-up is now under way as hundreds of volunteers help to remove rubbish from Worthy Farm and dismantle many of the stages.

Slow travel is expected in the area around the site as festival-goers leave.

The campsites around Worthy Farm are starting to empty.

As thousands of campers leave, the festival crew's recycling team is removing thousands of tonnes of waste to return the farm to its previous condition.

Festival organisers have urged people to take all their belongings and "love the farm, leave no trace".

It is the third time Andrew Duncan, from Sunderland, has been to the festival and he has been helping to pick up the litter with friends who call themselves "the wombles".

"It's been a great atmosphere and great camaraderie," he said.

"You come around the corner and you see all the rubbish and start doing it and by the time you finish you turn around and people are lying down where you've been because it just looks fantastic, it gives you a real sense of pride."

The skies have clouded over here at the Glastonbury Festival – possibly reflecting the mood as everyone packs up and leaves for another year.

In the last 12 hours, thousands have headed out through the gates and back to the real world, dragging their tents and sleeping bags behind them.

For many it’ll be a long journey – it can take hours to leave the area, and the queue for the buses to the train station was already hundreds of people deep by 08:00 this morning.

Even though thousands of people are heading home, plenty of workers are left on site helping to transform these fields from festival back to farmland.

Already there’s a team starting to take apart the iconic Pyramid Stage.

By the time many of the people who were partying here this weekend reach home and get some sleep, there’ll be little left on site but the memories of Glastonbury 2023.

Linda O'Hare, 70, from South Shields, said while picking up other people's rubbish is "not very pleasant", the whole Glastonbury experience is "such a special one, you get over it".

"It is an incredible festival," she said.

"It has been part of my life for the past 50 years. I love festivals, but this is the best. It is an established part of our culture. You can't really put it into words."

Shortly before heading off site, Lucien Anderson, 28, said of the festival: "It was my first year, so it was a bit of a baptism of fire, just the scale of it is incredible.

"Arriving here and looking at the horizon, it just goes as far as you can see.

"There was such a variety of stuff going on. While Elton John was playing, there were probably people also watching some sort of circus act."

Connie Hurley, 30, added that she loved seeing both the big hitters as well as smaller bands.

"It's been amazing, amazing," she said.

At 58-years-old, it was also Alison Hook's first festival ever.

"It was overwhelming first of all, but once we got used to it...we had a fantastic time," she said.

"It was more [than I expected]. There is something going on everywhere, so much thought in everything."

Ms Hook, from Bristol, was at the festival with a friend who uses a scooter due to limited mobility.

She said the only things she could criticise was the toilets and access for disabled people - adding that where they had camped was fantastic, but getting around the site had been hard with not enough space on disabled platforms.

"Getting around was horrendous," she said.

"They don't cater enough for disabled people. That needs looking at."

As people head home, long queues have been seen as people line up for buses.

Drivers were encouraged to leave the site before 07:00 BST on Monday morning to avoid queues and were urged to have food, drink and supplies in their car in the event of long waits.

Those leaving the site by car are likely to face some delays with slow traffic on roads and congestion to the A37 from Shepton Mallet, and the A361 into Pilton, according to traffic monitoring service Inrix.

Advice for those with cars from the festival said: “From 08:00 until 17:00 on Monday there are likely to be queues as our stewards work hard to help all the cars which arrived over three days to leave in one day.

“None of the staff can go home until you have, so please be calm, respectful and understanding.”

Roads were busy but moving well on Monday morning, according to Somerset council.

Avon and Somerset Police said it had recorded 120 incidents during the festival.

This included 27 thefts, 20 drug offences and seven sexual assaults.

A total of 35 arrests were made.

The figures included incidents and arrests both on and off site, in areas around the perimeter and on approach roads and in the car parks.