[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLrvU9mITgQ]
By Cara Sulieman
HUNDREDS of desperate music fans queued overnight to get T in the Park tickets, causing traffic chaos on the capital’s streets.
The doors opened at 9am on Friday and festival-goers started queuing on Thursday afternoon, determined to be at the festival.
Police had to block off a lane of the road to ensure pedestrians could squeeze past the crowd, who had pitched tents and brought supplies to get them through the night.
And security kept a close eye on the young throng as they kept themselves entertained until they found out if they managed to get one of the remaining 40,000 tickets.
Starting at Ripping Records on the city’s South Bridge, it snaked round the corner on to Chamber Street and was kept back by a large metal fence.
And with a lane closed off on the main artery during rush hour it only added to the road jams caused by the tram works on Princess Street.
Cars, buses and taxis crawled past the buoyant mob on their way into the city centre.
With a fantastic line up including Blur, Kings of Leon and Snow Patrol playing at Balado this year, the young queue were determined to be there.
First in line were four friends from Glasgow, who had been confused when they turned up at a Ticket Scotland branch only to find they weren’t being sold.
Sarah Scott, Stacey Dent and Tracey McIntyre, all 18, and Gemma Purdon, 19, all then jumped on a train through to the capital to ensure they would be at the festival in July.
Tracey explained the wait in the freezing cold weather was worth it.
She said: “We tried to go to Glasgow and found out they wasn’t actually selling them so we had to come through to Edinburgh.
“Then I had to leave to go to work in Glasgow at 8pm and came back again afterwards.
“This is my first festival. I have never been to T in the Park before and some of my favourite bands are playing like the Killers, Snow Patrol and Kings of Leon.
“It is just an ultimate dream line up and I can’t wait to see them.”
With such huge numbers of people lining up along the busy Edinburgh road, the security was high.
The police had to close off a lane of South Bridge so that pedestrians could squeeze past the campers, and council workers started to clean up the rubbish left behind.
A police spokesman for Lothian and Borders said: “Police were in attendance to ensure the safety of a high number of people queuing on the South Bridge this morning.
“Barriers were erected and traffic restrictions were put in place on the South Bridge northwards.”
