The Isle of Wight Festival - should IOW residents get discounted tickets?

As every Island resident will know the Festival returned in 2002 after a 32-year layoff. The Who, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, REM, The Kaiser Chiefs, Neil Young and Razorlight are just a few of the names who have crossed the water to play.

For those who don't appreciate the music the whole experience is just a whole lot of noise and a whole lot of inconvenience, with closed roads, congestion, queues for everything and full ferries. Those who do don't really mind the noise, but the inconvenience caused by some 50,000 visitors arriving from the mainland all at once remains the same.

Residents of the Island who actually attend the Festival get hit twice. Not only do they have to fight their way through the invading hordes but when they arrive at the event they find themselves at least £130 lighter - £150 if they intend to pitch a tent. That is the adult price and for the purposes of the Festival it would seem an adult is anybody over the age of twelve.

Perhaps not surprisingly, an enterprising group of young people from the Island have set up a Facebook group called Join if you think Isle of Wighters should get cheaper festival tickets.

So, should they?

Not everybody who has posted on the group's page agrees. Tickets are even more expensive at Glastonbury, it would seem, and there are no local discounts there. On the other hand the Rugby Football Union routinely makes 1,100 discounted tickets available to local residents for summer concerts held at Twickenham Stadium.

Personally I admire anybody who makes a stand against the rip-off culture which seems to predominate these days. I wish the campaign every success.