An Oasis super fan said he was ‘knocked out by security guards who lunged into him’ as they tried to tackle a gate-jumper at the band’s sold-out concert.
Joel Garner, 34, needed to go to A&E and ended up missing the entire concert at Heaton Park in Manchester on July 16.
His sister Evie Barker, 23, who was with Joel and three others at the gig, claims the security guards referred to him as ‘collateral damage’ before walking off while he suffered a seizure.
Joel, who works in media, is now pleading for fresh tickets to see his favourite band before they complete their reunion tour.
The group of five, which included Joel’s twin brother, arrived at Heaton Park excited to see Oasis perform at around 6pm on July 16.
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Just as they were about to head to bar about 15 minutes later, there was a ‘flash of yellow’.
Evie told Metro: ‘There were five to seven security guards fully sprinting, tailing this guy who jumped over the gate.
‘There was one massive pile-up and they clattered into the guy who jumped the barrier and Joel.
‘They must have seen him there cause they were all running towards him.’
Joel, from Derbyshire, says his memory is patchy because hit his head in the crash, but recalled: ‘There was a bit of a commotion and before you know it I was knocked flying by someone.’
The was Oasis fan was knocked unconscious by the fall and soon after had a seizure on the ground.
His sister claimed the security guards caught the gate-jumper in the chaos and were then uninterested in whether they injured Joel.
Evie said: ‘The security said to my boyfriend, “did he jump the fence? or was he collateral damage?”
‘What a way to refer to someone they’ve just knocked over. Then they just walked off and all of them just left.
‘It seemed like they were trying to take down the guy and didn’t care who was in their way.’
Evie called the alleged collateral damage comment ‘awful’, saying it made her ‘so angry’.
Joel was rushed into the nearby medical tent after the crash, where he was being treated just as Richard Ashcroft began his set warming up for Oasis.
He was then taken to hospital for further checks, with the whole group staying by his side until he was discharged around 7 hours later at 4am.
This meant Joel missed all the music performed that night.
Joel said: ‘I am absolutely gutted to not have seen Oasis. We were just looking forward to having a good time and literally within 15 minutes all hell breaks loose.’
‘I’m grateful I’m still in one piece. The five of us spent £700 on tickets and we didn’t get to see a single band.
Officers from Greater Manchester Police came around on the Thursday morning to investigate the incident.
Joel ultimately decided not to press charges, saying the prospect of facing ‘seven big, tall, buff security guards’ in court was ‘intimidating’.
The freelancer said a CT scan came back clear but he had to take time off work because of the injuries he sustained in the security guard crash.
While he was recovering, Evie sent emails, seen by Metro, to the gig’s promoters SJM Concerts and the company in charge of security, Showsec.
In response to her email, a representative from SJM apologised and offered all five members of the group free tickets to an Oasis gig that weekend.
While Joel gave his blessing for three of the group to go, he was still ‘aching’ and not well enough to go. His twin brother was also couldn’t make it.
While sister Evie was very grateful to be offered the experience and enjoyed seeing the concert, she said it was a ‘bittersweat’ knowing that Joel was at home unable to attend.
Evie and Joel are now desperately appealing for tickets for Joel to see Oasis live after he missed out.
The dates he can make are August 12 concert in Edinburgh and September 27 and 28 at Wembley in London.
Oasis are back performing at Wembley Stadium tonight before they then head to Dublin for more concerts.
Joel said: ‘I’ve had mates asking me since, “Oh, how was, how was Oasis?” and I have to tell them I couldn’t see them.
‘I would love to see them live. They’re my favourite band.’
Evie was less than impressed with Showsec’s response to her emailing complaining about how security ‘tackled’ her brother.
Metro has seen an email from the company where they say: ‘We are sorry to hear that you have had cause to raise a complaint’ and asking for more details to investigate.
Evie felt their response ‘didn’t seem sincere at all’.
She says she has since supplied more details to them but has not received the verdict of their investigation.
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police told Metro the incident ‘is still being investigated by officers, but as the victim does not want to support prosecution, the investigation will shortly be coming to a closure.’
Metro approached SJM Concerts and Showsec for comment but did not get a response.
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