Fan who lit flare at T in the Park is warned he could be sent to prison

A FESTIVAL-GOER has been warned he could be jailed for waving a lit emergency flare during at last month's T in the Park.

Dance act Deadmau5 were midway through their set on the Radio One/NME stage at the festival near Kinross when Scott Woodward produced the flare, causing people to run away.

Woodward was told by a sheriff yesterday he had "reached the custodial threshold" by posing a danger of a stampede amongst the packed crowd.

Perth Sheriff Court was told Woodward had the lit flare, which is normally used to alert Coastguards, above his head while sitting on another man's shoulders. They were fewer than 20 yards from the band. The court was told a number of people moved away from the area around the flare, which was pumping out red smoke, and that it took three minutes to burn out.

Sheriff Robert McCreadie said: "There is a wider issue here of a crowd at an event such as this. There's always the potential that people could move quickly away with potentially serious consequences.

"That was in the mind of the organisers when they explicitly banned the use of such items. A crowd can be very frightening indeed if it moves in an unexpected way. It's an extremely frightening thing to see.

"It is not simply a stupid man holding up a flare in direct defiance of what he was told."

Woodward, 22, from Dumfries, who admitted the offence, will be sentenced next month after background reports have been prepared and the sheriff has been able to view CCTV footage of the incident.