More than 50,000 set to descend on Boardmasters

Police are advising people to report inappropriate behaviour and to stay safe at the event

A five-day festival in Cornwall is opening its gates to an estimated 58,000 people.

Surf and music festival Boardmasters, which had its capacity increased from 53,000 in February, is being headlined by Chase & Status, Sam Fender and Stormzy.

Devon and Cornwall Police are providing extra patrols and have issued advice to keep people safe, including encouraging people to report inappropriate behaviour and to not take illegal substances.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) announced two days of strike action on Friday and Monday and two days of industrial action withholding overtime on Saturday and Sunday.

First Bus said there would be disruption to services in Kernow, buses of Somerset and Adventures by Bus services.

Boardmasters said the Big Green Coach was providing more than 80 pickup points across the UK and a Boardmasters park and ride service for day ticket-holders.

A shuttle service from Newquay train station and between Fistral Beach and Watergate Bay was also available, festival bosses said.

Supt Russell Dawe said the priority was to keep people safe during the event

On top of 11 music stages, there will be a zen den, outdoor cinema, muscle beach and surf experiences, and organisers said sustainability was a "core part" of its plans.

Supt Russell Dawe, silver commander for Boardmasters for the second year in a row, said the priority was to ensure people's safety.

He said: "What we do is we use our resources [officers] that are trained and have a specialism in relation to crowd dynamics and dealing with these type of large-scale events to make sure everybody's safe."

Supt Dawe advised festival goers to "not bring drugs".

He said: "Don't do drugs at the festival - come and enjoy it, but please don't undertake criminality.

"Don't bring valuables with you - don't bring expensive laptops and other IT equipment, and keep everything with you.

"This is a cashless event, so you don't need to bring big amounts of cash."

John Dean and wife Carla will be hosting a food truck at the event

John Dean, owner of Pechanga! restaurant, said his business would be getting involved with the festival to "make up for the quiet time" it usually experienced.

He said: "Generally, for us as a business, we see a spike in business before Boardmasters and after Boardmasters.

"But, during it, it seems like the people are at the festival spending their money."

Mr Dean said his business would be operating out of a food van on the beach.

"We've never had the shop and van running at the same time," he said.

Shane Griffiths said Boardmasters was good for the economy as long as it was run properly

Shane Griffiths, who works in Playland Amusements, said the event was good for the local economy "as long as they run it properly".

He said: "The last two years the police have shipped them straight off to the campsite and the businesses along this stretch of road at Station Parade miss out on a lot of trade.

"I know here and the chip shop next door, they all did extra food last year; they had extra staff on and we had staff standing around because they wouldn't allow them past the barriers of the train station, which does affect the local economy."

Cary Pearce, who owns The Chippy, said business was quiet at the beginning but picked up later on in the week.

"I love it, it's great for us... from Thursday, right through to Monday, it's heaving."

Ms Pearce said the event deterred regulars and holidaymakers from her shop.

She said: "Even though it seems like there's a lot of people coming through the doors, they maybe are only coming in for a tray of chips.

"It's not this absolute fortune that everyone thinks that you'd make through, as you've got to get extra stock, extra staff - you have to be open for more hours."