Festival is a sell-out in quick-time

Thousands of music fans were left disappointed today after it was announced that one of Britain’s biggest summer music festivals had sold out.

The Glastonbury Festival has shifted its 100,000 weekend tickets around eight weeks after they first went on sale, its organisers said.

Tickets from outlets such as the official festival web site and record stores dried up in the last couple of days.

Organisers insisted there would be no extra tickets for the three-day event, which takes place at Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset, in June.

A spokesman for the organisers, who are led by farmer Michael Eavis, said he thought the festival had sold out in record time.

He said: ‘‘It sold out within the last couple of days. It is a bit difficult to tell usually because there are so many outlets but a check was made and by yesterday it was quite clear that they had all gone.

‘‘There is a very strict limit on the number of people, which is part of an agreement with the local council, so there will be no extra people allowed in.

‘‘It is possible there are still some tickets available with some obscure agency somewhere, but it will be 10 rather than 10,000.’’

He added: ‘‘I’ve been working at the festival for a number of years and I don’t remember them selling out quite so quickly.’’

Last year’s event was cancelled owing to crowd safety fears.

The last time it was held, in June 2000, the festival was attended by 200,000 people - double the licence number - and Michael Eavis was fined £6,000 for breaching the terms of his licence.

This January, Mr Eavis was granted a licence by Mendip District Council for a crowd of 140,000, which includes performers and staff.

Organisers have stated that only people with a ticket will be welcome at this year’s event.

The spokesman also said that the line-up for the festival would remain a secret for the time being, despite the event selling-out.

He said: ‘‘The previous policy has been not to announce the bands until near the time of the festival.

‘‘We don’t need to encourage people to come to the festival now as it has already sold out, but we

also want a wide spectrum of people to come.

‘‘Oasis was the problem a few years ago because people just came for that and it skewered the whole audience.’’

However, various acts have already confirmed that they will be playing at this year’s festival, including Rod Stewart and Rolf Harris.