Australia’s Splendour In The Grass festival is facing criticism and a row over refunds after licensing rules led to it barring minors from attending without a guardian.
Organisers told fans earlier this week that they have been advised of changes to the event’s liquor licence in New South Wales. The changes, which have been announced just a fortnight before this year’s event in Byron Bay, mean any under-18s must be accompanied by an adult. Such restrictions previously only applied to under-16s.
Splendour advised underaged ticketholders to purchase tickets for their legal guardians, and noted that considerable fines may apply if those attendees did not comply with the new rule.
Ticketholders received an email via Moshtix, and the festival’s official Twitter account posted a statement explaining that it was “not Splendour’s decision” and that organisers were “very unhappy” about the situation.
Fans responded in the main with criticism of the late notice of a change to rules.
This sounds like a significant change in the ticket conditions that would we worthy of a refund for younger ticket holders
— Michael Coates (@MG_Coates) July 11, 2022
There are concerns that fans could be left out of pocket as Splendour rules say that no refunds will be provided on tickets except as required by law and/or as specified by the Live Performance Australia Ticketing Code of Practice.
Speaking to The Guardian, a spokesperson for NSW Fair Trading cited the state’s consumer protection laws as grounds for entitlement to a refund.
“Generally, if there are subsequent changes to terms and conditions after purchase that would prevent the purchaser from attending the event, consumer protection laws should provide the impacted ticket holder to obtain redress,” a spokesperson told the publication.
“In these circumstances, NSW Fair Trading encourages the organiser to work cooperatively with affected consumers.”
Splendour In The Grass 2022 is slated to go ahead at the North Byron Parklands in Wooyung next week, running across the weekend of July 22-24. Gorillaz and The Strokes are among those headlining.
Image: Alejandro Ortiz on Unsplash