Ravers left standing at Skegness railway station after Butlin’s weekender

Hundreds of passengers, who had attended the Bang Face 2024 electronic music weekender at Butlin’s, flooded the station platform on Monday, filling up trains trying to leave the town.

Some in colourful outfits and animal costumes were left waiting ‘for hours’ as trains that were running repeatedly departed at capacity.

“I feel pretty miffed because I spent a lot of money this weekend on travel,” said Alec Jetha, who resorted to paying for a taxi to take him to Grantham.

Delays worsened when a 13:15 train to Nottingham was cancelled after it emerged that the toilet on board was not functional. The waiting crowd booed as the train left the station empty.

“It's quite a long queue but, you know, there's not really any other options if you don't drive,” said Mae Crosby.

Music blared from portable speakers as some ravers tried to keep their spirits high after a weekend of partying, while others collapsed into fitful naps. Station staff reminded passengers through the tannoy not to smoke inside the station.

“People are playing music, not my kind of music but that's okay. It's not my choice,” said attendee Bee Dove.

The train service disruption also angered passengers who didn't attend the festival.

“We've been told it's because of a rave festival, that's all went on,” said Tracy Ginn, who visited Skegness from Norfolk on holiday. “We've got about six hour journey, and we both go back to work tomorrow.”

“Very frustrating,” added Tracy’s husband Steve.

A spokesperson at East Midlands Railway said they had made “made every effort to put in place extra capacity to keep customers moving”.

The official statement reads: “We would like to apologise to customers who were affected by this disruption.

"We were aware of the event at Butlins and made every effort to put in place extra capacity to keep customers moving with the available resources – this included arranging standby buses to manage extra demand.

“Unfortunately, a toilet defect was identified at the start of the journey of one of our services which meant we had no other option but to cancel it.

"We understand how frustrating this situation must have been and regret any inconvenience it caused.”

Bang Face 2024 was moved to Butlins in Skegness at short notice after flooding caused the previous venue, Pontins Southport Holiday Park to close. The festival is known for its wacky energy with outlandish costumes and good vibes.

People travelled from across the UK and abroad to party at the Lincolnshire resort over the weekend.

“I spent my Saturday dressed as a cheetah listening to dubstep and nobody batted an eye at all,” said attendee Mae Crosby.

“Everyone's really accepting, it's really nice,” added Bee Dove. “You don't feel scared, you know.”

“I think Butlin’s is like the perfect location for it because it’s very big,” said Alec Jetha.

“There’s actually a lot less restrictions than there would be at like even a festival site in say like a forest or something.”

“It’s a sweet release, of having a whole weekend of not having to put up barriers or filters. You can just be your complete self,” added Jetha.