Festival bosses sorry for T in the Park transport delays

Vehicles got stuck in the mud amid "challenging conditions" in the event's car parks

T in the Park festival bosses have apologised after transport problems hit people leaving the Strathallan site.

Long delays were experienced by revellers leaving the Perthshire site on each night of the event, which was attended than 80,000 music fans.

Organisers said "challenging ground conditions" had been compounded by "people not following directions", causing tailbacks on local roads.

However, they said the event had had a "great first year" at Strathallan.

There were 54 arrests during the four days the festival's campsites were open, on a par with figures from the previous year, and a 36-year-old man was found dead in the toilets on Saturday.

The suitability of the local road network for the high volume of festival traffic was one of the issues raised during a planning battle over the choice of Strathallan following the event's move across Perthshire from Balado.

Festival bosses blamed some drivers for going to the wrong exits

After lengthy delays which saw some fans unable to leave the site until 02:00 on the first night of the festival on Friday, bosses apologised and said they would "review the situation".

Event manager Colin Rodger said approximately 500 people had attempted to walk three miles back to an unofficial campsite "in an unsuitable location", restricting access to pick-up points.

After a second night of long queues and delays on Saturday, festival director Geoff Ellis said his team were "working hard" to rectify delays.

Wet conditions left many vehicles needing to be towed from one car park, and Mr Ellis said the current team "don't have the benefit of 18 years of infrastructure that we did at Balado". He also hit out at a "high volume of people" attempting to walk from the site, causing tailbacks.

Queues of traffic formed on local roads around the festival site

A further statement was released on Monday as queues again formed, reading: "Due to challenging ground conditions, there have been a number of vehicles in ditches this morning and this compounded with people not following directions and going to the wrong exists which has resulted in these delays."

Scottish Conservative MSP Liz Smith said it was "not unexpected" that there had been delays on the "narrow country roads".

She said: "It is very clear that a large number of people who attended the event were very frustrated by what they encountered when they were trying to enter and leave. This led to significant numbers of people walking along dangerous roads.

"There has to be a major review of what happened this year."

'Great year'

Mr Ellis admitted the event had "not been perfect", but said it had been a "great first year" overall.

He said: "We know traffic queues have left some people frustrated and we apologise for this, because obviously we want the experience to be positive for everyone from start to finish.

"We'll take learnings from this year and will work on improving the times for the future.

"Overall it's been a great first year at Strathallan - the bands were brilliant, the site looked wonderful and we know that the majority of people have had a fantastic time."

Festival bosses said they would "take learnings" from this year's event

Another concern raised in advance of the festival was for the well-being of a pair of ospreys nesting near the site, but RSPB Scotland said the event had gone off without disturbing the protected birds.

A spokesman said the birds had been "closely monitored", and that they had stayed in place behaving normally throughout.

Supt Colin Brown of Police Scotland thanked festival-goers for "behaving responsibly", saying that while some of the 54 arrests had been for "more serious offences", the majority of them had been detected or had positive lines of inquiry.

More than 200 acts played across the weekend, with headline performers including The Libertines, Avicii, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and Kasabian well received by the crowds.

DF Concerts won permission to host the festival at Strathallan for three years, to give time for the local authority to study the event's impact before deciding on its long-term future.

Thousands of music fans attended the weekend-long festival at Strathallan Castle