Music fan ‘suffered food poisoning’ a month after eating at Download

A music fan has told how he is still suffering from suspected food poisoning nearly a month after eating from a food vendor at Download Festival. Daniel Fitzsimmons, 27, claimed he started feeling sick and had diarrhea after eating a Yorkshire pork pudding at the Leicestershire event in Castle Donington.

He was forced to return home from the three-day music event a day early and even had to contact his GP for advice with suspected food poisoning.

Now three weeks later, Daniel claims he continues to suffer from a “sick stomach”, has had ongoing diarrhea and has had trouble working as a production engineer due to the urge to use the toilet.

He said: “I’ve been looking forward to downloading for a while because my favorite band Limp Bizkit was playing. Unfortunately though, I didn’t get to see them as I got sick the first day after eating a pork Yorkshire. pudding.

“It was covered in mashed potatoes and gravy, and although it wasn’t great or very hot, I didn’t think much of it at the time. It wasn’t until others started complaining that I wasn’t well that I started to believe it was possible. be the food.”

Daniel, from Attleborough, Norfolk, says the event “didn’t give the best impression” as there was a lot of mud and full toilets.

He said: “The festival really didn’t give the best impression anyway, because of the mud and overflowing toilets. But then getting sick was the last straw for me and I left early.

“I’m still not right and I feel that everyone who suffered deserves some answers, at least to prevent it from happening again in the future.”

James Grange, 28, also attended the event and started vomiting and had diarrhea after eating a burger on the first day of the event. He was picked up from the festival two days earlier and was forced to call NHS 111 for advice on his journey to his home in Chesterfield, Derbyshire.

James’ symptoms continued for several days and he claimed he was still suffering from ongoing diarrhea and nausea and was now feeling dizzy.

The customer service advisor said: “I don’t usually get sick and I think I have a pretty robust stomach. But shortly after eating at Download, I felt really sick.

“The hamburger I had had little taste and was only lukewarm, but I didn’t put it all together until I heard everyone else got sick.”

James said the toilets at the festival were “disgusting” and believes this made it worse. He said: “I guess the whole situation was made worse by the disgusting state of the toilets that I complained about – and the fact that the hand sanitiser ran out and wasn’t replaced.

“Hygiene in general was very poor at this year’s festival, which I think is unacceptable for such a large event. It is very worrying how many people have been affected and something needs to be done to prevent it from happening again.”

Jatinder Paul, a public health lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, who is representing Daniel and James, encouraged anyone else who fell ill at the event to come forward.

He said: “The reports we have heard about the problems at Download Festival and the direct accounts from Daniel, James and others are deeply concerning.

“Hearing that the organizers have closed down two food stalls indicates the extent of the problem. It was also reported that more than 500 people who attended the festival were affected by the disease.

“The scale of the problem is worrying and really not something you would expect from such a high profile event. .

“Live Nation has confirmed that they are now investigating the outbreak and it is vital that if issues are identified, lessons are learned to ensure that something like this does not happen again. We would also like to speak to anyone affected to help us with our own questions. .”

Download Festival organizers Live Nation have been contacted for comment.

North West Leicestershire District Council previously told LeicestershireLive that it had worked with Live Nation to investigate two providers, which were subsequently closed down. The sellers have not been publicly named. A spokesman for the authority said it would “continue to investigate the outbreak”.

Paul Sanders, Head of Community Services at NWLDC, told LeicestershireLive: “We carried out continuous food hygiene safety checks on site throughout the five days of the festival to ensure all vendors met the required standards.

“Where we find that improvements are needed, we provide advice and carry out a follow-up visit to ensure that improvements have been made. We worked with the event organizer to investigate two food vendors, both of which were closed by the event organizer over the weekend.

“We are aware of reports of people feeling unwell and will continue to investigate. Anyone who continues to feel unwell following Download Festival should contact their GP in the first instance.”