Music festival strikes wrong chord

Dec 22 2011 by Alison Lowson, Hamilton Advertiser

THIS year’s T in the Park music festival struck all the wrong notes with one drug-carrying music fan.

Things started badly for Hamilton man Robert Gallacher (31) when he got to the site at Balado in Perthshire and discovered his £70 ticket was a forgery.

And when he was stopped and searched at the gates, police discovered 111 Ecstasy tablets on him.

He paid £220 for them - but they didn’t turn out to be real either. They were TFMPP, a Class C substance which is sometimes used in other illegal drugs.

Gallacher was refused admission to the festival - and his misery was compounded when he was fined £1200 at Perth Sheriff Court last week. He admitted having the tablets in his possession at T in the Park on dates between July 8 and 10.

Depute fiscal Stuart Richardson said: “His weekend was really a disaster all round.”

Gallacher had been the one who volunteered to get the drugs for the weekend for him and his friends. He planned to distribute them once he was inside the festival site but that didn’t happen. He didn’t get any of the cash back from his friends for the cost of the tablets.

Gallacher’s solicitor, Paul Ralph, said: “All in all, this wasn’t a great weekend for Mr Gallacher.”

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told Gallacher: “At the end of the day, it was clear you were attempting to supply Ecstasy among your friends. It didn’t turn out to be Ecstasy but again it was a controlled substance. It was just stupidity on your part. I am prepared to deal with it by way of a monetary penalty but it has to be significant.”

Gallacher, of Newlands Drive, Hamilton, will pay the fine at £100 a month.