Five-hour traffic delays at Belladrum Tartan Heart

Scotland’s Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival has apologised for traffic delays of up to five hours to get into the site.

Organisers said wet weather and large numbers of people arriving early had resulted in the long queues.

The Inverness-based event, owned by DEAG’s Kilimanjaro Live, is the Highlands’ biggest music festival.

More than 25,000 tickets were sold for this year’s event, which took place between 27–29 July, marking an increase in last year’s sales.

The festival site on the Belladrum Estate is around a 30-minute drive from Inverness but on social media, festivalgoers said they had waited for up to five hours and even longer to reach car parks or drop-off.

“We had a very large number of people arrive early and we believe that this, along with the wet weather, was the cause of the long queues”

Some drivers turned around while others set off to walk to the site – something Belladrum’s organisers urged people not to do for safety reasons.

“We are incredibly disappointed by the traffic issues that so many festival-goers and local people experienced today,” said organisers.

“We have used the same routes, the same traffic management and parking companies and the same number of police officers in the same locations.

“We had a very large number of people arrive early and we believe that this, along with the wet weather this morning, was the cause of the long queues which then continued throughout the day.”

The organisers said they would seek to avoid a similar situation next year, Belladrum’s 20th birthday year.

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