Scott Johnston became an overnight Twitter sensation yesterday after his jokey tweet sparked a police manhunt.
The 23-year-old from Ayr, who attended T in the Park over the weekend, tweeted the event’s official page at 10am in the morning, with a plea for assistance, saying that he was “somewhere in Green 7” and had been “packed into a tent bag for a joke”.
He also added that he didn’t “have much battery left”.
@Tinthepark hi im somewhere in green 7 someone has packed me into a tent bag for a joke and I can't get out I don't have much battery left
— Scott Johnston (@ScottJohnston8) July 13, 2015
The lad received a response from Police Scotland around half an hour later (which to be fair would be a phenomenally long time if he was genuinely stuck somewhere) confirming that they had “officers and stewards in the area looking”.
@ScottJohnston8 Hi Scott please tweet us with more info if you can. We have officers with stewards in the area looking for you now.
— Police Scotland (@policescotland) July 13, 2015
Even Traffic Scotland fancied getting in on the action…
@ScottJohnston8 @Tinthepark Hi Scott, we have contacted the police, if you have any battery left please provide an update. Thanks.
— Traffic Scotland (@trafficscotland) July 13, 2015
However, after over 6,000 retweets, Scott admitted he was safe, putting many nervous minds to rest…
It's okay everyone my friends unzipped me earlier never been so happy to see the rain
— Scott Johnston (@ScottJohnston8) July 13, 2015
He told the Record:
It is everywhere online… I just tweeted it for a laugh. I didn’t think it would spiral out of control. I don’t feel bad about it. I can’t stop laughing – it’s the only thing that made me laugh all weekend.
That was my seventh year going and it was the worst T in the Park I’ve ever been to. I actually left earlier on Sunday morning, I wasn’t even there this morning.
This fiasco seems like the only lighthearted fun at an event that was otherwise marred by negative incidents. One man was tragically found dead in the toilets, another smashed in the face with a bottle in a sickening and cowardly attack caught on camera and poor event management resulted in a crowd crush and general chaos as revelers were attempting to leave the site.
So there you go, get yourselves down to T in the Park next summer if you want a piss poor line-up, terrible health and safety and vicious violence.
I’m a bit busy that weekend, but early bird tickets go on sale soon I believe…
Chris is a trending and viral news editor at UNILAD.