Multiple teens allegedly pass out on bus ride from Raglan’s Soundsplash to Auckland after air-conditioning malfunctions

A music festival is under fire again after passengers on a bus carrying about 50 teenagers began fainting due to an air conditioning malfunction while returning to Auckland.

Festival-goers of Raglan’s Soundsplash “had to beg” the driver of a Ritchies bus to pull over on the motorway after enduring extreme heat while sitting in traffic without any air conditioning.

One passenger on the bus told Newshub four people fainted, and multiple others suffered heatstroke and panic attacks during the trip.

The bus was transporting the teenagers back to Auckland on Sunday afternoon before having to pull over at the Karaka McDonald’s amid concerns it wasn’t safe to continue the trip, Ritchies said in a statement.

A Hato Hone St John spokesperson told the Herald they were called outside the McDonald’s on Harbourside Drive shortly before 1pm.

They sent one ambulance, a rapid response vehicle and an operations manager to the scene.

About 50 young people were onboard the bus and two were treated. One patient collapsed while on the bus and another was “heat affected”.

Neither patient was transported to hospital.

A Ritchies spokesperson told the Herald that high temperatures appeared to cause an air conditioning unit to malfunction on the bus.

“From preliminary inquiries it appears the air conditioning unit on the bus developed some intermittent issues about 30 minutes out of Raglan,” they said.

Artists working on a banner at the Raglan SoundSplash Festival in 2007. Photo / NZME

“Concerned about the safety of passengers the driver stopped but then the air conditioning began to work again. Further in the journey it stopped functioning again in the high temperatures outside.”

The driver pulled the bus to the side of the motorway mid-journey, enabling passengers to be checked over and safely collected after deeming “it wasn’t safe to continue the journey”.

The spokesperson said inquiries were ongoing and the bus involved wouldn’t be back on the road until it had been “checked over” and they were confident it was only the heat and no other issue contributing to the air conditioning fault.

“We sincerely regret the inconvenience to the passengers,” they said.

In a statement to the Herald, a Soundsplash spokesperson said it “extends sincere apologies to those attendees who experienced distress and who were inconvenienced by the air conditioning malfunction on one of the buses returning to Auckland today”.

“We are awaiting the bus provider’s full report on today’s incident and, as part of our post-event analysis, we will be reviewing our provider and their protocols ahead of next year’s festival.

“We are disappointed that this incident happened at the end of an otherwise successful festival.”

It’s not the first time the festival has come under fire however, with multiple reports of transport issues in previous years.

Soundsplash was last year described as “a shambles” after festival-goers were forced to wait up to six hours for limited shuttle buses to the venue in searing heat without water or shade.

Soundsplash festival-goers last year were forced to wait for hours in the hot sun without water. Photo / Supplied

The Raglan airfield had been set up as a site to drop off festival patrons, to get their entry wristbands and have their bags searched for alcohol and harmful substances.

Festival-goers were made to tip out their water bottles upon arrival.

Last year’s festival ended in a trip to the emergency department for a 16-year-old who allegedly suffered from severe sunburn, heatstroke and blisters.

It was a similar story in 2021, when thousands of underage teens waited up to seven hours in the hot sun at Raglan airfield for buses to take them the final 4km to the concert grounds.

The festival organisers apologised, saying stringent checking for illicit substances was responsible for the delays.

In 2019, festival-goers endured traffic queues kilometres long in the pouring rain, and long waits to enter.

Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.