Anyone get caught up in the fiasco getting onto the London bound platform after the game last night, supposedly operating in the guise of "crowd management"? Absolute joke it was.
I got there to the side entrance with my old man two minutes after 10pm and the next train due in was the 22.07 but they'd just shut the gates. Now that's fine if the platform was getting dangerously overcrowded but it certainly didn't look that way to me. Anyway, having kept the gate shut for 5 minutes the pillocks then decided to open the gate again just as the train was pulling in, creating a potentially dangerous surge through the gate in front of a moving train. They then try and force the gates shut again after about ten seconds and the train pulls out with only about two people standing in the last carriage - so clearly plenty of room.
A fella started remonstrating with the Old Bill on the platform when we were eventually let through and all he could say was that it "was for safety management reasons". When I pointed out that what had happened was a potentially serious safety issue he just looked at me blankly - in that way coppers generally do when you put a reasoned argument to them and their standard response of threatening to nick you (for asking searching questions, presumably) obviously isn't an option.
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The fellas on the gate are some sort of stewards though. Not sure if they're from Railtrack, but I'm guessing they probably are, but the club probbaly pays something into the pot for that sort of thing. When I left a game early once I saw the same fellas sitting on a bench on the platform waiting for the rush at the end of the game and sharing a spliff. Hardly the ideal way to prepare for a stint of crowd management!
One of the trains was meant to be seating only I think!