Michael Eavis: 'I let in fence-jumpers'

Michael Eavis has revealed that he once let thousands of ticketless revellers into the Glastonbury Festival.

The founder of the annual event at Worthy Farm, Pilton claimed that in the past, as long as he broke even he was not concerned about fence-jumpers, The Mirror reports.

Eavis said: "It never bothered me that people used to sneak in. I think at one stage we had more who hadn't paid than had.

"In the '80s it was like Robin Hood with the rich paying to help the poor, who had crept in to see bands.

"As long as I covered the cost of the festival I didn't mind. In fact, one night I got up at 2.30am and used a digger to lift up some fence where there were 2,000 people and let them in."

In 2002, Glastonbury installed a £1 million "superfence" to prevent people sneaking into the festival after council pressure regarding overcrowding.

At the time, Eavis said: "For years, a lot of people have been getting into Glastonbury without tickets - over or under the fence, forgery, scams, whatever. This year things have to change for good."