T in the Park won’t ever be returning

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The organiser of T in the Park has told Newsbeat the event won’t ever be coming back.

“It was an amazing festival, but it ran its course,” says Geoff Ellis.

T in the Park, which was Scotland’s biggest festival, last took place in 2016 before being put on hold the following year because of difficulties at a new site.

“Everyone loved T and we all had great fun doing it,” says Geoff.

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Geoff Ellis was speaking ahead of this year’s TRNSMT festival, which is now in its third year and is put on by his company DF Concerts.

It has long been speculated that TRNSMT was a replacement for T in the Park, but the long-term future of the event has never been confirmed.

“You can always look fondly on the past,” explains Geoff Ellis.

“It was really the third major festival in the UK. We’ve got some great memories…we’ll always have them and so will all the people who grew up with it.”

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The first three editions of T in the Park were held at Strathclyde Park, near Hamilton in Lanarkshire, before it moved to Balado in Perth and Kinross.

It stayed there until 2015 when the festival moved to Strathallan after “substantial” concerns were raised about an oil pipeline which ran under the site.

Promoters said this led to “continued restrictions” which had a “negative impact” on festival-goers.

The 2015 event drew the largest number of complaints and negative comments in T in the Park’s history, with “significant traffic congestion” highlighted.

Two teenagers died at 2016’s festival in separate incidents, while witnesses reported fights and drug taking in the camping area.

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After putting the event to rest, Geoff Ellis says “it’s all about TRNSMT for us now”.

“Things move on and we keep creating.

“The festival scene’s really, really healthy these days and it’s great to still be amongst it.”