'Mellow' Glastonbury hailed success

Roger Waters played on the main stage

The 2002 Glastonbury Festival has drawn to a close, with organisers hoping lower crime rates and a "laid back" atmosphere have secured the event's future.

Performances from Rod Stewart, Roger Waters, Groove Armada and Air closed the event at Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset, on Sunday.

About 100,000 attended the music and arts festival this year, which was hailed a resounding success after previous crime and gatecrashing problems.

It's a completely different atmosphere this year, more relaxed and chilled out

Festival-goer
Chris Le May

Host Michael Eavis spoke of a "sea change" in the event, and said he was so delighted that he was considering the possibility of increasing capacity to 120,000 next year.

He admitted: "After 2000, I didn't think I would ever get a licence again."

Mr Eavis praised travellers who had contributed the kind of "creative fun" which used to be widely seen in the festival's early years.

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The site was surrounded by a 12-foot high steel fence to keep gatecrashers out.

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Avon and Somerset police hailed the event as a "success".

The force said on Monday afternoon that 700 crimes took place between Wednesday and Sunday, fewer than half those committed in 2000.

The number of drug seizures was considered low at 275 with most of these involving cannabis.

Other crime included 80 robberies, with "several pockets of thieves" causing problems outside the site.

There were 270 arrests in total inside the grounds during the event.

"Crime is down and drug figures are down and feedback from people indicated that they have felt safe. Everyone has felt much safer than in previous years," said a police spokesman.

Police appeal

"The only flip side was that we have experienced crime outside the perimeter fence but we did mount some operations to try and control this and increase police resources there."

However, three security guards appeared at Bath magistrates court in connection with an alleged robbery outside the site.

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Police are also looking for a driver of a Volkswagen camper van found near the festival after a 29-year-old man from London was knocked down and killed at Springfield Cross, near the festival site.

Mr Eavis said just one person had managed to scale the fence, compared with the 100,000 who breached 2000's defences, but the intruder quickly left the site again.

"All his mates were outside so he left again," Mr Eavis joked.

Fans who spoke to BBC News Online agreed with Mr Eavis's comments that this year's festival would be known as "the mellow one".

Australian Daniel Robinson, 23, from Melbourne, called the festival "absolutely sensational".

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"I've had the greatest time, I haven't thought about anything outside the fence," he told BBC News Online.

Clean up job

Chris Le May, 32, from London, added: "It is a lot quieter this year, we came two years ago and it was absolutely manic.

"It's a completely different atmosphere this year, more relaxed and chilled out."

On Sunday, tens of thousands turned out to see Rolf Harris play a lunchtime performance, before giant screens showed the second half of the World Cup final, in time to see Brazil beat Germany 2-0.

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The cancellation of an appearance by Welsh band Super Furry Animals opened up the slot in the programme, organisers said.

The proceeds from the festival mean that charities, including Oxfam, WaterAid and Greenpeace, will share £750,000 and Mr Eavis said he hoped future years would see that sum rise to £1m.

Festival-goers leave behind them a two month-long clean-up job before Mr Eavis's dairy farm is fit for his cows again.