POLICE have issued a statement to festival-goers ahead of this week’s Glastonbury Festival.

Avon and Somerset will again be providing a police presence at the five-day event which starts tomorrow.

Assistant chief constable Caroline Peters, who is serving as gold commander for the Glastonbury Festival police plan, said: "Public safety is always our top priority but we also want everyone going to the festival to have a great time.

"There is no intelligence to suggest a threat to Glastonbury Festival but we, along with the event organisers, will be taking extra security precautions this year.

"The policing style might look and feel slightly different this year – there will be a higher visibility of officers on the perimeter of festival helping security with searches.”

Officers will be wearing the new black uniforms, including protective vests and body worn cameras, the same as beat officers across the region.

ACC Peters continued: "We’ve always worked very closely with the event organisers and we have tried and tested plans in place for all eventualities.

"Like the rest of the UK, festival-goers should be alert but not alarmed.”

She advised people to report anything suspicious immediately by calling 999 in an emergency, 101 if not urgent, or reporting anything to officers or security staff on patrol on the site.

Additionally there will be a police compound for festival-goers to go to and report any issues they might have.

She said: "We would like to reiterate the advice that Glastonbury Festival has already issued about packing light and putting luggage tags or some form of ID on all your bags.

"Be patient if there are queues – all ticket holders will be subject to extra searches of their vehicles, their bags and their person at this year’s festival.

"This might make entrance slower than in previous years but please be patient if you are in a queue and cooperate with any security requests and all searches.

"Don’t forget to come and say hello to our officers on-site – they will be happy to have a chat, offer advice, hand out crime prevention items and pose for a picture if you ask nicely!”

For more advice and photos from the festival, follow @PoliceatGlasto on Twitter.