Somerset resident Geoffrey Fry was delighted to hear that organisers of the 2003 Glastonbury Festival had been denied a public entertainment licence.

Mr Fry, who lives at West Pennard, a village close to the festival venue at Pilton, says the venue is too small to cope with the huge influx of people the event attracts.

The 55-year-old farm shop worker claimed residents who live near the festival have had to put up with stolen cars being dumped across driveways or abandoned in streets around the village.

So when he heard Mendip District Council had denied permission for the 2003 festival, following a five-hour meeting of its regulatory board on Thursday evening, he welcomed the news

If I put in an application to build a 10,000-seater football stadium it would be refused Geoffrey Fry

Councillors rejected the licence application for up to 150,000 people by five votes to four, despite the fact that there were no objections from the police.

Mr Fry said: "I am delighted, obviously.

"One of the main problems is the roads are so congested around here at the time of the festival.

"The road becomes completely blocked to Glastonbury and there are always a lot of people hanging around.

"I've not seen drug-taking myself but people are always very wary of the festival goers.

Cars dumped

"They don't like to leave their cars alone and you need a parking pass just to park outside your own house."

Mr Fry said he had heard stories of people being turned back by police for not having a pass.

"All they were trying to do was get home," he said.

"The festival folk themselves park anywhere, people even steal cars and drive them here then dump them in driveways and across people's gateways.

"I know the festival brings in lots of money but the village is really unsuited to these amounts of traffic.

"My argument is always this - if I put in an application to build a 10,000-seater football stadium, it would be refused and yet they let this go ahead year after year."

Festival organiser, Michael Eavis, has already said he is planning to appeal against the decision.