Friday, August 21, 2026
We're so excited to see you at Reading and Leeds!
If you entered your shift preferences before the deadline, your shift pattern has now been assigned!
You can view your shift pattern on the Overview page of your PAAM account.
If you've only just applied to join us or you haven't selected your shift preferences yet your shift pattern won't have been allocated yet. Please log in to your PAAM account to select your shift preferences and check back in a few days to see your shift pattern.
To choose your Reading and Leeds shift preferences you need to:
Meal voucher ordering for Reading and Leeds is now open!
Staff catering at Reading and Leeds is located in the staff campsite areas.
At Reading staff catering will be open from breakfast on Wednesday to breakfast on Monday, at Leeds from breakfast on Tuesday to breakfast on Monday. At Reading there will be no onsite catering open on Tuesday so if you're arriving on Tuesday please plan for this. We will have kettles in the marquee in the Hotbox compound which you can use for hot water for pot noodles, porridge pots, etc and you can leave site once you've been accredited to do a supermarket run or pick up a takeaway if you wish.
Staff catering will serve meals at a greatly reduced price compared to the public food stands at the festival site.
Meal vouchers are DISCOUNTED BY 20% ONLY WHEN PREORDERED with Hotbox Events!
If you wait until you are at the festival and buy direct from staff catering they will cost 20% more.
To preorder your Reading and Leeds meal vouchers:
At Reading, meal vouchers are not day or meal specific, so for Reading:
At Leeds, meal vouchers are not day or meal specific, they can be used for any meal on any day, they just show as day and meal specific so we can give the catering company an indication of when they are likely to be used. The only exception being packed lunches which are day specific.
So for Leeds:
The deadline for pre-ordering Reading meal vouchers is midday on Monday 24th August, for Leeds the deadline is 6pm Sunday 23rd August.
We're sorry there is such a tight deadline - our event schedules have only been signed off in the past 2 weeks so we've got all setup for you as quickly as we've been able!
Sample menus can be found in the Reading or Leeds training portal area of your PAAM account.
Please note that meal vouchers are non-refundable as we are required to pay for them in advance of the festival.
Please take some time to check out the Training Portal in your PAAM account as there's lots of useful documents to familiarise yourself with before the festival. We are likely to be sent more briefing documents by the festival organisers in the days leading up to the festival so please keep an eye on the Training Portal area for new documents popping up!
Arrival information including which gate to enter the site via and the timings of the briefings can be found in the Reading and Leeds Info Packs in the PAAM Portal.
Please don't forget to bring documents to prove your right to work in the UK to the festival.
The options for this are:
We cannot accept photocopies or photographs! We are legally required to see the original documents in person at the festival. We have a safe in the Hotbox office where we can keep documents during the festival if you would prefer to not store them in your tent.
A driving license is not proof of your right to work in the UK.
Every year volunteers arrive with their driving license as proof of right to work in the UK and unfortunately need to be asked to head back home to collect other documents to prove their right to work in the UK. Please don't let this be you!
If you have any queries over right to work documents please contact us before the festival. If you do not have the correct documents for us to check at the festival site you will not be able to volunteer.
If there is anything you would like to ask or you would just like to chat with us about, the easiest way is to...
You can connect with us @hotboxevents on Instagram, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube
If you would like to chat with others who have joined us before, head to our Facebook Group
Here you will find new and returning staff and volunteers chatting about what it is like to join us at festivals, arranging to share lifts, asking and answering questions about working at festivals and making new friends!
If you have not joined us at a festival before and are wondering what it is like, check out some of our staff and volunteer interviews!
In these interviews, you will get to hear from those who have joined us talking about how they found their shifts, how they felt they were looked after by the Hotbox team, what it was like working solo for the first time, taking on more responsibility year on year, and even how the experience and confidence gained has helped with career progression away from festivals.
Another way to see what joining us is like is to check out some of our festival photos!
In our festival photo galleries, you will find thousands of photos covering our festival history over the past twenty years!
It's totally normal to be anxious before coming to a festival, particularly if you're coming solo! We get hundreds of messages every year from people who are keen to join us but nervous about coming alone, so we promise you're not...alone! We're a very friendly bunch and if there's anything we can do to reduce your anxiety, please get in touch! You can also join our Facebook Group to make friends with others before the festival. Within this group you will also find links to some volunteer-led WhatsApp groups that have been set up!
If you have specific questions about joining us at festivals, try our festival FAQs!
Our festival FAQs are regularly updated and packed full of answers to the questions we are usually asked, as well as handy festival hits and tips.
We usually send out an email newsletter every month or so. If you would like to keep up to date with our news and festival happenings, please subscribe!
If you would like to drop us an email, it's info@hotboxevents.com
You can reach our office by phone on the numbers below...
Tel: 01252849600 (UK) select option 2 for Hotbox Events
Tel: +441252849600 (International) select option 2 for Hotbox Events
