Stewards & away coaches leaving the stadium

[The 17 Bus]

perhaps a few folk that witness this could take some pictures as evidence?

[cheeryoleary]

perhaps a few folk that witness this could take some pictures as evidence?

Difficult now due to the earlier sunset (Had thought about it)

[STAR Liaison]

In an attempt to get the away coaches on their way, stewards were forcing all supporters to walk in the road....not onto the footpath!!

Then as they let the coaches go - you guessed it - they drive down the road, motoring past the pedestrians.

I have raised this recently with the senior management at the club and the chief tango and neither felt that it is a danger to let supporters walk in the road.

The way you describe it makes it sound as if the away coaches drive down through the supporters at normal speed but they are led down the slope by a steward and so they are going at the same pace if not slower than the surrounding supporters. I shadowed the chief tango at a game at another ground and that was certainly the way thet operated there with a steward in front and other stewards next to the coach and walking very slowly so there is no more danger being in the road rather than on a path.

It was also pointed out to me by the chief tango that there has been absolutely no change in their procedure for the last 5 years.

HTH

[Royal Lady]

Well, I'm sorry but I haven't seen a tango walking in front of the coaches. When you or a colleague have the time, would it be possible to enquire of the club WHY they still insist on the safety gate, when NO OTHER club that I have been to insists on it?

[RG30]

Well, I'm sorry but I haven't seen a tango walking in front of the coaches. When you or a colleague have the time, would it be possible to enquire of the club WHY they still insist on the safety gate, when NO OTHER club that I have been to insists on it?

You obviously haven't been to Stoke then?

[Royal Lady]

Not for a while no.

It's still not a legal requirement to have this gate up and if there's going to be any trouble there will be trouble when both sets of supporters meet up half way round the ground. As I have now stated ad nauseum, if we were allowed to leave the East Stand and walk straight down the slope, there'd be no problem with the coaches trying to run us over.

[PieEater]

I too have never seen a steward walking in front of the coaches, but I think the problem is actually the buses, not the coaches. The speed the drivers go is far from walking pace and the tangoes seem to think that shouting in a loud hailer to clear the road is OK. What if you were deaf or plugged into your iPod?

[royal goof]

In an attempt to get the away coaches on their way, stewards were forcing all supporters to walk in the road....not onto the footpath!!

Then as they let the coaches go - you guessed it - they drive down the road, motoring past the pedestrians.

I have raised this recently with the senior management at the club and the chief tango and neither felt that it is a danger to let supporters walk in the road.

The way you describe it makes it sound as if the away coaches drive down through the supporters at normal speed but they are led down the slope by a steward and so they are going at the same pace if not slower than the surrounding supporters. I shadowed the chief tango at a game at another ground and that was certainly the way thet operated there with a steward in front and other stewards next to the coach and walking very slowly so there is no more danger being in the road rather than on a path.

It was also pointed out to me by the chief tango that there has been absolutely no change in their procedure for the last 5 years.

HTH

It's interesting to hear that neither feel it's a danger to direct supporters onto a road instead of a footpath and then proceed to let coaches drive down that very same piece of road.

Occasionally a steward does walk ahead of the coaches and walks down shouting 'mind your backs!'.. he then gets out of the way and the coaches go past (often quickly). If they are going slower than the supporters why do they overtake them?? Nonetheless, a 'slow' coach can do a lot of damage to a pedestrian.

As for the 'last 5 years' comment... When in the last 5 years have we regularly had sell out crowds for nearly every game and full allocations of away supporters? I think you'll find that this is the first season this has happened regularly.

Maybe point out to the 'chief' that their procedures should be reviewed with the circumstances of the crowd numbers. Not be based on times when our average crowds were around 15,000.

Typical fob-off response from both STAR and the 'Senior Management' - Keep up the good work.

[M U R T Y]

Todays situation was quite farcical! Let me explain;

Was told to walk in the road as the coaches were about to leave, so walked down the road with coaches passing us by on the left. Once at the bottom of the hill, I am greeted with a barrier and two stewards! So all the people in the road have a choice of:
a) dodging the coaches leaving to get onto the path
or
b) walk on the wet muddy area just to the right of the roundabout in order to get to the path on the right hand side

Chief tango guy was walking the coaches down, shouting "mind your backs", but once he got to the barrier, the remaining coaches were free to whizz past everyone else at whatever speed they liked.

Shocking. One day someone will get hurt there - but it seems somebody will have to get hurt before RFC take any action

[RoyalBlue]

Once again they decided to let the buses in Northern Way start to leave just as the main mass of supporters are having to walk down that same road! Seems the club think a guy with a megaphone yelling for people to get out of the way makes the procedure safe!

Safety procedures dating back to when a man with a flag walked in front of each automobile!

It probably takes no more than 5 minutes or so for the main mass of supporters to clear the area, so why not play safe by making the effing buses wait for that long?! Instead the safety barons turn a blind eye, whilst continuing to worry far more about home supporters standing.

[The 17 Bus]

why dont they move the buses further down the slope in the first place, and also load them all at the same time instead of one at a time?

We would all hope that thye review the access in the summer, there has to be an answer, that is safer than what happens now.

[Jerry St Clair]

When you or a colleague have the time, would it be possible to enquire of the club WHY they still insist on the safety gate, when NO OTHER club that I have been to insists on it?

I disagree RL.

The area of the ground by the South East corner is far to enclosed to be safe for home and away fans to mix. Before the safety gate was introduced there WAS trouble in this area.

There are a lot of problems around the stadium, but the safety gate isn't one of them - it's a good idea.

[G Force 1871]

When you or a colleague have the time, would it be possible to enquire of the club WHY they still insist on the safety gate, when NO OTHER club that I have been to insists on it?

I disagree RL.

The area of the ground by the South East corner is far to enclosed to be safe for home and away fans to mix. Before the safety gate was introduced there WAS trouble in this area.

There are a lot of problems around the stadium, but the safety gate isn't one of them - it's a good idea.

I agree that the Safety gate is useful, but think that it should not necesarrily be in place for every game, a bit like when they used to close the slope behind the Southbank and Town End when they though that there might be trouble after the game.

[Royal Lady]

I just think it hampers fans from leaving the ground via the quickest route. If people want to cause trouble, they will, safety gate or not. However, I have yet to see any trouble when the fans meet up during their excursion around the whole ground, so why does the safety gate make any difference?

[Dirk Gently]

I just think it hampers fans from leaving the ground via the quickest route. If people want to cause trouble, they will, safety gate or not. However, I have yet to see any trouble when the fans meet up during their excursion around the whole ground, so why does the safety gate make any difference?

I think that's mainly the idea - I'm not sure what relevance keeping the two sets of fans apart actually has with this gate, and the reason for it is presented badly.

It's there as much as anything to stop the whole of the East stand (or at least 50% of them) coming out at the end of the match and going down the hill at the same time - meeting the majority of the South stand and potentially 50% of the West stand. That's just too many people for that area, especially considering away coaches have to leave.

So, think of the safety gate as a way the club are making the outside of the stadium "one-way" for pedestrians - and to dampen down the flow of the crowd - as much as to keep home and away fans seperate, then it makes more sense. Yes, this "one-way" idea doesn't work where South stand people leave for the car park, but those numbers are smaller and more manageable than the whole situation would be if the gate wasn't there.

So, RL, yes it does "hamper fans from leaving the ground via the quickest route" - that's the whole point, because without it there'd be too many fans trying to leave by the same quickest route at the same time.

[The 17 Bus]

My problem with those in favour would be how we were told that the ground could be cleared in minutes due to the excellent design.

So much that was presented at The Mansion House turned out to be wrong.

I fully hope that when we extend, if that is, that some money is spent on access as well, it sure needs to be.

[royal goof]

In an attempt to get the away coaches on their way, stewards were forcing all supporters to walk in the road....not onto the footpath!!

Then as they let the coaches go - you guessed it - they drive down the road, motoring past the pedestrians.

I have raised this recently with the senior management at the club and the chief tango and neither felt that it is a danger to let supporters walk in the road.

The way you describe it makes it sound as if the away coaches drive down through the supporters at normal speed but they are led down the slope by a steward and so they are going at the same pace if not slower than the surrounding supporters. I shadowed the chief tango at a game at another ground and that was certainly the way thet operated there with a steward in front and other stewards next to the coach and walking very slowly so there is no more danger being in the road rather than on a path.

It was also pointed out to me by the chief tango that there has been absolutely no change in their procedure for the last 5 years.

HTH

Tonights game would be an ideal opportunity for you and the senior management to 'shadow' our chief tango (which I presume is the one with the beard) and watch what actually happens.

Bearing in mind that it wont be a sell-out crowd so the problems that exist are magnified on sold out matches.

I welcome your observations.

[STAR Liaison]

Tonights game would be an ideal opportunity for you and the senior management to 'shadow' our chief tango (which I presume is the one with the beard) and watch what actually happens.

Bearing in mind that it wont be a sell-out crowd so the problems that exist are magnified on sold out matches.

I welcome your observations.

I assume the lack of response to this is the reason you have started another thread asking for the opinion of STAR.

I am sorry I did not respond sooner but suggestions do need a little more than a few hours to implement.

Besides which I am a member of STAR because I support Reading Football Club and so it may surprise you but I do actually want to watch the football. You may consider an FA cup game to be insignificant but I do not. That is why I shadowed the tango at another ground when we were not playing. I did once take a game to shadow the chief steward but having done it once I have no intention of missing another game.

However, I would be happy to ask if you could do so. I cannot guarantee the answer (or force the answer) but I am willing to ask.

FYI the chief tango is not the one with a beard, he tends to be more involved in the whole stadium so will be less conspicuous in any one place.

[royal goof]

Tonights game would be an ideal opportunity for you and the senior management to 'shadow' our chief tango (which I presume is the one with the beard) and watch what actually happens.

Bearing in mind that it wont be a sell-out crowd so the problems that exist are magnified on sold out matches.

I welcome your observations.

I assume the lack of response to this is the reason you have started another thread asking for the opinion of STAR.

I am sorry I did not respond sooner but suggestions do need a little more than a few hours to implement.

Besides which I am a member of STAR because I support Reading Football Club and so it may surprise you but I do actually want to watch the football. You may consider an FA cup game to be insignificant but I do not. That is why I shadowed the tango at another ground when we were not playing. I did once take a game to shadow the chief steward but having done it once I have no intention of missing another game.

However, I would be happy to ask if you could do so. I cannot guarantee the answer (or force the answer) but I am willing to ask.

FYI the chief tango is not the one with a beard, he tends to be more involved in the whole stadium so will be less conspicuous in any one place.

Firstly, I do not consider any RFC game to be insignificant - please do not mis-quote me. I was also one of the 11,500.

The shadowing of the steward would not need to take place until after the game at the time the coaches are allowed to leave.

The lack of response was not the reason for asking other opinions. The general feeling I got on how things were being dealt with was the reason.

Star Campaigns has now provided further info on this matter and I understand that the issue is ongoing and will be raised at the forthcoming safety meeting. If necessary, I am more than happy to meet with you and the chief steward after a game.

[royal goof]

This unbelievable situation with the coaches has still not been rectified for this season!

Away fan coaches are still being sent down a road where pedestrians have been told to walk. Pedestrians are then confronted with a barrier and no footpath. They have to walk around the barrier, either back into the path of the oncoming coaches, or down a steep muddy slope (not great if you're elderly).

As a result, I have now been man-handled and abused by a steward for calmly trying to walk on the footpath. I have logged an official complaint with the club.

Why is it so difficult to tackle this???