The summer has said its goodbyes and taken with it another year of incredible summer festivals. Once again, UK police have reported yet another overall decline in reported accidents, incidents and criminal acts at festivals, suggesting that in general things are getting safer by the year. High ticket prices and strict entry policies at festivals like Glastonbury are certainly helping, but for the most part it comes down to simple and admirable reveller vigilance to ward off the crooks looking to ruin a few folks’ summers.

So as the festival season winds down…at least for the UK…here’s a quick overview of the most important festival safety tips to take away after a mercifully safe and enjoyable season:

You Bring It, You Risk It

First and foremost, it never fails to surprise the local authorities when Reading Festival attendees rock up to the police and tell them they’ve lost or had somebody stolen their diamond ring. There are times and places to take the most valuable and important things in the world to you – music festival are by no means it! So above and beyond all else, the simple advice is once again not to take anything you cannot bear to lose…especially if there’s no point taking it at all.

Use ATMs

The good news is that the days of having to get up at 4am just to make sure there isn’t a six-hour queue at the cash machine are over…most of the time, anyway. So with cash machines all over every festival you go to which for the most part are guarded 24 hours a day, what’s to gain from going in the first place with about a grand in cash in your pocket? The more cash you have, the more you stand to lose…pointlessly.

If It Matters, Sleep With It

Not to be taken literally in some senses, but when it comes to the important items you take with you and anything of value, sleep with it. This could mean burying in your sleeping bag with you, stuffing it in your pyjama pockets or really doing anything else it takes to keep it out of reach of those looking to do you harm.

Leave a Light On

If a thief has even the slightest inclination that anyone is at home in the tent, they won’t bother trying anything…99% of them are pathetic cowards. As such, while it’s not the most energy-efficient thing in the world to do it can still be a good idea to leave a light on for the whole of the night in the porch of your tent while asleep. This way, they’ll not only think someone’s home and awake, but they’ll also be lit up like a Christmas tree light if they find anything!

Insure It

Last but not least, yes it’s a pain and no you probably won’t need it, but if you take out festival insurance to cover yourself against anything that might happen, the peace of mind you’ll take with you will be worth more than the ticket price ten-times over. And just for the record, about 99.9% of standard travel insurance policies do NOT cover music festival or any standard summer festivals, so don’t make that assumption either!