Loog Gets Wrist Slapped

Finnish promoter Hardi Loog got “a slap on the wrist” for ignoring police advice during this summer’s inaugural Weekend Festival in Espoo.

Some fans got stuck in 8-mile traffic jams and arrived after most of the acts had finished their sets.

Loog was handed a 10-day fine, which Finnish law calculates as the amount of money he would normally earn in that time.
Detective Chief Inspector Henry Niklander told Helsingin Sanomat that Loog had ignored almost every instruction he was given.

“Therefore, we felt that the slap on the wrist is in place,” he said.

Loog, who is head of Vantaa-based RL Entertainment and claims the fine amounts to about $78.50, admits the main problem was that there were not enough stewards to marshal traffic.

“We had outsourced this service,” he said, claiming he contracted and paid for the number the police demanded.
“I’m just now waiting for a statement from our security company as to what happened,” he said.

At the time, he blamed the traffic chaos around the site on traffic problems on the Vihdintie, the motorway that links Helsinki to the festival site. He said traffic problems were caused mostly by a couple of accidents just before the afternoon rush-hour.

Loog already has police permission to promote the festival in 2013.