Scots music festival organiser under fire over call for volunteers to pay £145 deposit to work for nothing

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The organisers of troubled Doune the Rabbit Hole music festival have come under fire for asking volunteers to pay a £145 deposit to work at the event for free.The call was issued from the festival’s social media pages on Wednesday afternoon, with those interested then asked to provide a payment as a gesture of “commitment” to the event.It is currently £95 but will rise to £145 at the end of May.The festival website states: “To volunteer at the festival, a deposit is required to show your commitment.

This will be refunded to you after the festival if you turn up to shifts on time, in a fit state and complete all your shifts.”A further section reveals that prospective volunteers could be left waiting for up to a month for their money to be paid back, with refund requests taking five to ten working days once requests for refunds are processed.In a post on Twitter yesterday, organisers stated: “The volunteer deposit is £95 until the end of May and then goes up to £145. “This is to encourage people to sign up to volunteer early in exactly the same way as early bird tickets discounts are designed to encourage earlier ticket sales.

This is completely normal.”But the move has attracted concern online following revelations in March that some artists and performers left out of pocket after the organisers of the 2022 festival went into liquidation could be facing a three-year wait to recoup their money.

That was outlined in an email from the organisers to creditors in which they said they would aim to recover losses made on the 2022 event by using the proceeds from future festivals, beginning with the 2023 gathering.Mid Scotland and Fife Green MSP Mark Ruskell said: “It’s concerning to see DTRH requiring festival volunteers to