World

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

A festival goer walks through the water and mud at the campsite at the Isle of Wight festival on the Isle of Wight England Friday June 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Peter Byrne/PA)

Hundreds of music fans have been stranded in their cars overnight after rainstorms caused chaos on travel routes to the Isle of Wight Festival.

Long traffic jams formed after rain battered the festival site on the 400 square-kilometre island off England's south coast, turning parking lots into inaccessible mud baths.

Some of the stranded motorists were given shelter in a sports club.

More people were stuck on the mainland, and 600 were stranded on ferries at sea, after boat companies cancelled crossings because of the backlog.

Festival organizers Friday apologized for the problems, and urged concertgoers to leave cars at home.

More than 50,000 people are expected to attend the three-day festival, headlined by Pearl Jam, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen.