THE BBC has sent 407 people to cover this weekend’s Glastonbury festival, almost as many as it flew out to film last year’s Beijing Olympics.

There are so many on the corporation’s payroll that it has had to block book hotels within a 10-mile radius of the festival. The BBC sent just 32 more to cover the Olympics.

The camera crews and presenters were joined by a clutch of senior corporation executives, who earlier this week were forced to disclose their expenses and earnings. They received free passes to attend in a “work capacity”.

One of the executives at the festival, Mark Byford, the deputy director-general, routinely charged the licence fee payer £240 a day for a chauffeur to pick him up each morning at Waterloo station.

Another executive, Alan Yentob, the BBC’s creative director, once hosted a Glastonbury festival reception at his nearby country home, paid for by the licence fee. Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, was also at Glastonbury this weekend.

The cost of coverage, excluding any fee paid to the organisers of Glastonbury, was estimated by one BBC source at £1.5m. “We really don’t want anyone making unfortunate comparisons with Beijing,” he said.

Philip Davies, a Conservative member of the Commons culture committee, said: “It’s yet another example of how the BBC is bloated.

They send people to these events in quantities that any other broadcaster could only dream of. It seems totally unnecessary.”

Television audiences for the festival on BBC2, BBC3 and BBC4 reach a fraction of the number achieved by Wimbledon, where the men’s final attracted 12.7m viewers last year. There will be 111 hours of television coverage across these minority channels and the BBC’s interactive service, known as the “red button”. This compares with 3,050 hours coverage for Beijing.

On radio there will be more than 60 hours on 6 Music, Radio 1 and 5 Live.

This weekend the BBC confirmed in a statement that it has sent 27 television and radio presenters to Glastonbury, fronted by Jo Whiley, the BBC Radio 1 presenter, and Mark Radcliffe, the Radio 2 presenter. They are supported by a 68-strong editorial team and 160 technicians. The BBC has sent a further 18 staff to work on interactive content and employed 130 contractors to provide technical support and security.

Their presence is a boon for the local hotel trade. At the Wessex hotel in Street, Somerset, where prices range from £40 to £160 a night, the BBC has booked all 51 rooms. “They come here every year and have already booked ahead for next,” said Judy Juvy-Churches, the manager. “It’s great for business.”

The corporation has booked out all nine rooms at Meare Manor near Glastonbury for one of its lighting teams, at a cost of £100 a night.

At Mullions hotel in Street all 19 rooms have been booked, with prices ranging from £59 to £109 a night. At the Shrubbery hotel in Shepton Mallet the BBC has booked six out of seven rooms. The remaining one has been booked by Carol Ann Duffy, the poet laureate.

A spokesman for the BBC said: “Our coverage of the festival is not comparable with the Olympics. We are the official broadcast partner to Glastonbury and are responsible for all broadcast infra-structure and transmission. Our pictures will be used around the world.”

Last week the corporation was forced to reveal under freedom of information legislation that its top 50 bosses are paid a combined total of up to £13.6m, with most of them earning more than the prime minister. Many will be at Glastonbury. Lyons, Byford and Yentob have all been given free passes to attend in a “work capacity”.

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP who has campaigned for greater transparency for the BBC, said: “In these times the BBC should be reconsidering its priorities.”

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