Drug trading at a music festival which takes place off the A31 in Hampshire has been criticised by a coroner following the death of a 22-year-old man at the event last year.

An inquest into the death of Benjamin Buckfield last August found that he died after taking MDMA bought at the Boomtown festival on the Matterley Estate near Winchester.

Before this year’s festival began on Wednesday coroner Nicholas Walker called on the Boomtown organisers and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary to take action to prevent more deaths.

He highlighted concerns over an "unchecked, open and free trade" in drugs. Boomtown said it would now "work with the police to respond to the coroner's report". The police acknowledged the concerns and said they would "continue to discuss these with the event organisers before providing a response".

Boomtown and the police must respond to the report by September 26. This year’s festival continues until Sunday night.

Mr Walker, area coroner for Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton, said he took into account changes made by the festival and police for Boomtown 2025 before commenting in his Prevention of Future Deaths report.

He said he heard evidence from a friend of Mr Buckfield that dealers walked through the campsites - as regularly as every 20 minutes - shouting the names of drugs they were offering to supply, with seemingly nothing done to try to disrupt this trade.

Another witness said people caught with drugs on the site were only ejected if the quantities they were carrying were consistent with being a dealer.

Mr Walker was concerned that the police said there was "no disincentive" for festival-goers attempting to bring drugs into last year’s event.

This year’s festival has attracted a sell-out crowd of more than 60,000 and assistant chief constable Tony Rowlinson said public safety is the police’s “absolute priority”.

He added that the force had reviewed last year's plans and worked with the organisers on measures to strengthen their ability to stop dealers.

Boomtown thanked the coroner for highlighting the “ongoing and very real risks posed by drugs” even when “strong harm reduction measures” were in place.