Glastonbury Festival's new security measures have succeeded in keeping out the crowds of gatecrashers.

By Saturday, only "a handful" of people without tickets had jumped over the fence to join the 100,000 fans who had arrived at the Somerset site with their �100 tickets in hand.

They were settling into festival life and enjoying the second day of music - including performances from Stereophonics, The Charlatans and The White Stripes - as well as continued fine weather.

Some praised the tighter security for cutting crime and making the site less crowded.

Not-so-alternative lifestyle: Queues built up for the site's cashpoints

Avon and Somerset police said that by 0800 BST on Saturday, there had been 68% fewer reported crimes than at the same stage at the last festival in 2000.

There were 104 arrests with 221 reported crimes, compared to 682 crimes in 2000.

Much of that is put down to the absence of thieves who would previously have got in over the fence.

In 2000, police estimated that up to 100,000 gatecrashers took crowd figures to dangerous levels and put the festival's future in doubt.

One fan, Pete Smith, 26, from Cardiff, said he had jumped the fence in 2000 - but decided against it this time.

Taking it easy on Saturday

"I saw the police plans for the fence, and just thought no way," he told BBC News Online.

"And I would hate to be responsible for the festival never happening again."

Carolyn Gilgrass, a 40-year-old social worker, said the event had been "wonderful" so far.

"You don't feel in danger when you're coming in the gates - there's no hassle," she said.

"As long as it doesn't rain, you've cracked it," her husband Glenn, 34, added.

But there have been some invasion attempts, as well as ticket thefts and counterfeiting scams.

Three security guards were arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning following an alleged robbery, after which four men were taken to hospital, and released after treatment.

Less mud to clean off this year

Festival security successfully repelled an invasion attempt on Friday night when a group of 10 or 20 bottle-hurling people tried to storm a gate.

It was "desperate behaviour" by people who had already been stifled in attempts to scale the fence and mug fans for tickets, organisers said.

But 146 fans had their tickets stolen by Saturday morning, according to police, who are drafting in officers with dogs and horses to patrol the area around the festival to deter any more muggers.