A huge clean-up operation was well under way last night as the Glastonbury Festival site was prepared for its other role as a dairy farm.

The mass exodus from the festival passed off without major incident yesterday as tens of thousands of people dispersed from the Somerset venue.

It mirrored a successful 40th festival, which saw crime cut for the second year in a row and overall reported crimes down from 445 to 393, police said yesterday.

After a weekend of scorching temperatures, the AA reported heavy traffic and dozens of breakdowns.

Many of the vehicle callouts were caused by interior lights having been left on and batteries running down, although overheating of engines and lost keys were also causing problems.

Police reported theft from tents and drug offences were the main crimes, with the total number of reported thefts from tents at 230.

Thefts from the person were this year at 22 reported incidents up until 9am on the final day, which is down from 61 at the same time last year.

More than 170,000 people, including visitors and workers, attended the event where the star performers included Muse, Gorillaz and Stevie Wonder.

In total 117 people were arrested during the festival, while Safer Stronger Neighbourhood Teams worked to educate and inform festival-goers about keeping themselves and their property safe and have held daily beat surgeries to offer regular advice.

Superintendent Ian Smith, who led the police operation, said: "We're pleased that once again crime has remained low at the Glastonbury Festival and overall the police operation has been a success.

"Our policing approach to the festival is very much a community approach so it's been superb to see officers engaging so well with the public in a professional and friendly manner."

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