Godiva Festival 2023

Case Study: Road Closure & Hostile Vehicle Mitigation at Coventry’s Godiva Festival 2023

Overview

As one of the West Midlands’ largest and most popular music events, Coventry’s Godiva Festival 2023 attracted over 70,000 attendees to War Memorial Park for a weekend of live music headlined by Melanie C, The Enemy, and Rudimental. Ensuring the safety of such a large gathering — both from a traffic and security standpoint — required expert planning, strategic road management, and robust vehicle mitigation measures.

Event Support Team (EST) were proud to be selected as the provider of road closure services and Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) solutions for the event. Working in partnership with CrowdGuard, EST delivered an integrated safety and traffic operation that supported secure access while maintaining a positive experience for attendees and local residents alike.

The Challenge

The scale and location of Godiva Festival presented a complex operational landscape, combining:

• High visitor numbers and heavy vehicle traffic around the park.
• The need for efficient ingress and egress of both vehicles and pedestrians.
• Implementation of Hostile Vehicle Mitigation systems in line with Protect Duty (Martyn’s Law) standards.
• Maintaining emergency access while securing public areas against potential vehicle-borne threats.

The festival organisers required a comprehensive plan that balanced security, accessibility, and traffic flow, while also minimising disruption to local residents.

Our Approach

Road Closures and Local Traffic Control

To support safe and efficient event operations, EST implemented a road closure around the car park entrance, allowing for controlled access and smoother vehicle flow during both ingress and egress phases.

In addition, a ‘residents only’ parking scheme was introduced under a Temporary Traffic Reduction Order (TTRO)— an approach successfully modelled on previous EST operations at Tramlines Festival.
This system significantly reduced nuisance parking and non-resident traffic in the surrounding area. Despite extensive signage and communication efforts, five vehicles were removed for non-compliance, ensuring that access routes remained clear and safe.

Implementation of Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) Solutions

With Protect Duty (Martyn’s Law) on the horizon, Coventry City Council and Godiva Festival organisers prioritised proactive security measures to protect attendees from vehicle-borne threats.

Following a detailed Threat, Vulnerability, and Risk Assessment (TVRA), EST and CrowdGuard designed and deployed a two-tier Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Plan:

1. ATG Surface Guard Barriers – Main Entrance Protection
   • Installed outside the festival’s main entrance to safeguard queuing visitors.
   • The Surface Guard system — a Counter Terror Awards-winning solution — offers strong vehicle-stopping capability while maintaining a non-menacing, pedestrian-friendly appearance.
   • Due to the entrance’s designation as a blue route, the barriers needed to remain quickly removable for emergency access.
   • EST stationed two trained operatives on-site throughout the weekend to ensure rapid removal if required, maintaining both safety and emergency readiness.
2. [Insert Image: Surface Guard Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Equipment]
3. RB50 Modular Barriers – Production Entrance Protection
   • Deployed at key production and service access points.
   • The RB50 system is mobile, modular, and easily wheeled into position, allowing for flexible deployment.
   • Upon impact, the RB50 units are designed to dig into the ground and rotate upward, immobilising any unauthorised or hostile vehicle instantly, allowing security teams to neutralise the threat safely.
4. [Insert Image: RB50 Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Equipment]

Dynamic Egress Management

During egress, EST personnel with Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS) credentials implemented dynamic road closures to support the safe departure of vehicles and pedestrians. This flexible approach reduced congestion and allowed for responsive control of traffic as the site emptied.

The Results

Through meticulous planning, partnership, and precise on-site execution, EST ensured that Godiva Festival 2023 ran safely and efficiently, achieving:

• Zero security or traffic incidents across the weekend.
• Full compliance with safety and HVM regulations in anticipation of Protect Duty legislation.
• Significant reduction in unauthorised parking and traffic disruption in local areas.
• Seamless emergency access capability, maintained throughout the event.

The deployment of advanced HVM systems not only enhanced event safety but also served as a model of best practicefor future festivals adopting similar protective measures.

Key Outcomes

Conclusion

The Event Support Team’s work at Coventry’s Godiva Festival 2023 demonstrated their capacity to integrate cutting-edge Hostile Vehicle Mitigation, expert traffic control, and community-sensitive planning into a single, cohesive operation.

By combining innovative security technology with experienced personnel and dynamic response management, EST successfully safeguarded 70,000 attendees while maintaining accessibility and order throughout the event.

This project highlights EST’s ongoing commitment to public safety, compliance with emerging legislation, and operational excellence in delivering large-scale event security and traffic management services.