Friday, May 15, 2026
When it comes to buggies at Download we're doing things a little differently to how we usually organise shifts. Rather than signing up to join the buggy team at the festival on a shift by shift basis at the beginning of each shift, we're looking for volunteers who would like to sign up to join our accessibility buggy driving team in advance of the festival!
Our accessibility buggy team assist with the internal transport operation around the festival site. If you're part of our buggy team you'll spend your shifts driving accessibility buggies around the festival site to pick up and drop off accessibility customers, and working at one of the designated accessibility shuttle bus/buggy pick up/drop off points. You will need a UK driving license to apply and we'll need to take a scan of your licence before your first shift at the festival.
We've taken onboard feedback from last year to make the buggy driving role even better for 2026! This includes moving most of the static accessibility shuttle bus/buggy stop positions into the campsite teams instead of the buggy team deployment. This means if you're part of the buggy team you'll spend less time in static positions at bus/buggy stops and more time driving buggies, as well as more regular breaks and working closer to your zone supervisor!
If you're part of the buggy team, you'll work all of your shifts as part of the buggy team at the festival. It won't be possible to mix buggy shifts with shifts in the arena, campsites, towers or gates. That said, as always the festival is a dynamic environment so there is of course a possibility you may be redeployed to another area depending on demand, particularly overnight when the demand on the buggies is less.
If you're wondering what these festival buggies are and what they look like, they look like this.
So, what do you do if you'd like to sign up for our accessibility buggy team? Follow the link below to our buggy team application form where you can fill out your details, view the accessibility buggy shift planner and enter your shift preferences.
Buggy team applications are only open to those who already have a confirmed volunteering place at Download Festival.
The deadline for applying to join the accessibility buggy team is midday on Tuesday 19th May. After this date it will take us a few days to allocate buggy team shift patterns.
If you are successful with your application to join the Download buggy team, you'll be able to view your buggy shift pattern on the Overview page of your PAAM account towards the end of next week. If you have a confirmed place in the buggy team you will then be exempt from the main Download volunteer shift preference selection later this month as you will already have a shift pattern.
Please note, if this is your first time joining us this is a different way to how shift preference selection usually works! If you're not applying to join our buggy team, we'll send you more information about how you can select your shift patterns for our gate, campsite, arena, viewing platform and tower teams later this month so keep an eye on our emails and socials!
Apply to join the Hotbox Events 2026 Download Festival buggy team!
If there is anything you would like to ask or you would just like to chat with us about, the easiest way is to...
You can connect with us @hotboxevents on Instagram, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube
If you would like to chat with others who have joined us before, head to our Facebook Group
Here you will find new and returning staff and volunteers chatting about what it is like to join us at festivals, arranging to share lifts, asking and answering questions about working at festivals and making new friends!
If you have not joined us at a festival before and are wondering what it is like, check out some of our staff and volunteer interviews!
In these interviews, you will get to hear from those who have joined us talking about how they found their shifts, how they felt they were looked after by the Hotbox team, what it was like working solo for the first time, taking on more responsibility year on year, and even how the experience and confidence gained has helped with career progression away from festivals.
Another way to see what joining us is like is to check out some of our festival photos!
In our festival photo galleries, you will find thousands of photos covering our festival history over the past twenty years!
It's totally normal to be anxious before coming to a festival, particularly if you're coming solo! We get hundreds of messages every year from people who are keen to join us but nervous about coming alone, so we promise you're not...alone! We're a very friendly bunch and if there's anything we can do to reduce your anxiety, please get in touch! You can also join our Facebook Group to make friends with others before the festival. Within this group you will also find links to some volunteer-led WhatsApp groups that have been set up!
If you have specific questions about joining us at festivals, try our festival FAQs!
Our festival FAQs are regularly updated and packed full of answers to the questions we are usually asked, as well as handy festival hits and tips.
We usually send out an email newsletter every month or so. If you would like to keep up to date with our news and festival happenings, please subscribe!
If you would like to drop us an email, it's info@hotboxevents.com
You can reach our office by phone on the numbers below...
Tel: 01252849600 (UK) select option 2 for Hotbox Events
Tel: +441252849600 (International) select option 2 for Hotbox Events
