Man died after struggling with phone signal during Pride, meeting told

A man died after his doctor apparently struggled to call him back because of poor phone signal during Pride weekend, a meeting was told last night.

The 71-year-old was found on the floor by his wife with his mobile phone in his hand during the Nick Cave gig. She called 999, and when police and paramedics arrived, they also had no signal for non-emergency calls on their phones.

The sad incident was detailed in an info sheet left on every seat at a feedback meeting for people living near Preston Park last night (Monday, 12 October).

Approximately 30 people crammed into the Preston Park Tennis Club Pavilion, many of whom agreed loss of mobile phone signal during big events there was a common problem.

With 50,000 people in Preston Park during the events between Friday 31 July and Sunday 2 August, for the Nick Cave gig and the two-day Pride on the Park event, people living in the area said they either struggled with communications or left for the weekend.

The information sheet said the man had called his doctor to ask for an inhaler and was waiting for a call back when his wife went to Sainsbury’s.

But when his daughter tried to call him but could not get through, his wife returned and found him on the floor.

The statement said: “[The police and paramedics] said this often occurred during large events in the park and elsewhere in the city, so they had to use their radios.

“Residents are deeply concerned that the emergency services report such communication failures as common during events in the park and across the city.

“With so many elderly and vulnerable people living around Preston Park, we ask whether high volume events should be permitted in such a residential area.

“It cannot be right that residents do not have reliable means of communication for three days.”

The woman who left the note did not give her name, but said the man died.

Cabinet member for the economy, culture, heritage and tourism councillor David McGregor confirmed there are extra masts installed in Preston Park during Pride to address the volume of people.

Outdoor events development manager Ian Baird also confirmed 999 should always work, even if people cannot call a friend.

A lack of stewards directing revellers away from residential streets and addressing public defecation and urination by homes was another concern.

One Rookery Close resident said: “I should have the right to live peacefully and happily in my own home, but for two weeks of the year, and it is two weeks not just one or two days, I can’t do that.

“I’ve lived in Rookery Close for 30 years and when I first came here Pride was a smaller gathering and you didn’t pay for it, and now it’s huge like Glastonbury. The noise is unbelievable.”

A resident of Nestor Court , where in 2018 hundreds of revellers went into the gardens wrongly thinking it was a cut through to the railway station, said this year was the worst since then.

She said there was no security or gate as there had been in previous years at the block for people aged over 60.

She said: “I’m upset about security because we’ve tried to make sure we’ve had the security so we didn’t have a disaster like we had in 2018.

“Now we had a lady on the ground floor of Nestor Court and a group of youngsters got in and were outside her flat and she was in a terrible state and she was crying.

“They got in and were using it as a toilet everywhere.”

Suggestions put forward by the community included a fallow year without any events, as the last year has seen multiple weeks taken up with a circus, the Ladyboys of Bangkok as well as Pride.

Residents did not want to see the end of Pride but wanted respite.

Councillor McGregor confirmed there will be fewer events next year and agreed there were issues with communication and stewarding.

He said: “We couldn’t put the same kind of events put on in Preston Park at any other site.

“We’ve looked and tried to move around to different places but it’s not possible.”

Councillor McGregor confirmed the feedback received from the community would form part of the discussions for next years’ Pride.

Residents were advised to sign up to follow the Outdoor Events Forum on the Your Voice section of the council website to give their feedback and for updates on public meetings.