Arrests after forged tickets seized

The event is a sell-out with 100,000 fans expected

Four people have been arrested by police after more than 100 fake Glastonbury Festival tickets were discovered.

Police stopped and searched a van carrying four men near the fence of the site at Pilton, Somerset and found a batch of 140 forged tickets concealed behind a door panel.

The men were arrested on suspicion of deception and taken to the custody suite at the Bath and West Showground for questioning.

Police say forged tickets are selling for up to £300, but warn they do not contain the security features - a sandwich of red paper in the middle and the word "Glastafari" showing under ultraviolet light - needed for entry.

Our message is simple - just don't buy one

Avon and Somerset police

Two people were arrested in Pilton village in connection with the sale of forged tickets on Wednesday, the day camping opened at the site.

Up to 36,000 fans had arrived at the festival site by Thursday morning, with another 64,000 expected by the start of the event on Friday.

A police spokesman said: "Our message is simple - just don't buy one. You will lose £300 and still not be able to get in."

Coldplay, The Charlatans and Rod Stewart are among a host of acts performing.

The weekend is forecast to be sunny with some cloud

Organiser Michael Eavis - given a lifetime achievement award by the Beard Liberation Front on Thursday - said his campaign to persuade ticketless fans to stay at home was working.

Only six were found outside the fence on Wednesday morning.

About 2,000 would have already broken in by the same stage in previous years, he said.

A new £1m "super-fence" was put up after up to 100,000 gatecrashers at the last event, in 2000, put the festival's future at risk.

"It's working perfectly. The campaign [to urge people] to stay away has worked perfectly well," Mr Eavis said.

Another security cordon is letting only those with tickets get within five miles of the site.

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One group of travellers did break through the outer cordon on Tuesday and gain access to one of the car parks, but left peacefully.

Police also broke up an attempted illegal party four miles away from the festival site.

Officers dispersed a gathering of more than 100 people who had camped on a field, in Cinnamon Lane, just outside Pilton.

They left peacefully after having the sound equipment seized, with two arrested for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.

A total of 140,000 people will legitimately be on Mr Eavis' 800 acres of farmland by the end of Friday.

Some 100,000 tickets, which cost £100 each, have been sold, and the remaining 40,000 places were reserved for artists, crew, traders, media and locals.