epsom
7:13 Mon Sep 5
Re: Introducing a Seat Swap Scheme for anyone not happy at the OS
|
Have not received any response from the club to the issue raised where some of us are in parts of the stadium where it is not quite right for us. The original email that initiated this thread was sent on August 22nd.
In addition after 2 matches I feel that there are safety concerns at the OS and although its not the clubs responsibility to resolve, they have to escalate to ensure that the culpability is accepted.
Sitting down at the OS is not the answer, qualified supervision and crowd control is.
Despite social media calls for fans to sit down and just get the approval from the council for MORE supporters at the OS, there appears to be no response from the club to the issues raised by many supporters to the various safety issues at the OS. To just ask us to sit down and get the safety certificate approved I feel is abdicating responsibility for safety in the stadium.
Below is a copy of email sent to the club via the founders feedback address on sept 1st. Would really appreciate feedback and opinions.
To West Ham United Football Club
Firstly, is a response to this email expected, if not how can I officially raise security and safety concerns at the OS and ensure that these have been received and understood? If no response to this email is received within 7 days recorded deliveries to directors of the club, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and the Mayor's of Newham and London will be sent to ensure that the issues raised have been received by officials of the club and copied to public officials to ensure that they are on record.
Secondly if I have questions which I believe should be responded to under the freedom of information act about the operation of the OS whom should these be directed to at either the club or OS stadium please to generate a response?
The club has done a great job in migrating from the Boleyn to the OS. Below are concerns observed after attending 2.
The intent of this email is to be constructive and provide feedback and suggestions where possible. The issues raised are not necessarily the clubs responsibility, however if these are not addressed they will severely impact the brand of West Ham United and undo all the great work undertaken over the last few years. In addition I believe my contract and safety is with the club whose responsibility should be to ensure that any concerns raised are passed to the correct authorities.
The majority of points raised in this email are related to safety concerns. These are based on attending the Bournemouth and Astra games. For the record, I do not believe that crowd standing at the stadium is the urgent priority, it is important to resolve, however there are greater issues surrounding safety at the moment. I prefer to sit during a game so the purpose of this email is not to defend nor deflect the standing issue within the stadium.
For the record my name is XXXX and I have tickets in Block 135. My reference number is XXXXXX.
Stewarding
The Boleyn ground had an element of self policing with experienced stewards who were aware of all the various parameters when managing football crowds. In addition police were always close at hand and visible inside and immediately available outside the stadium. The capability of the stewarding at the OS in comparison is very poor and its obvious that they are inexperienced in managing football crowds. At the Astra game I walked around inside the stadium several times during the match standing in obvious exits to watch the game and there was little attempt if any to move me on from these points of exit. In addition I chose to seat in various blocks as I wanted to check out the atmosphere in different parts of the stadium. In terms of the orange v green stewards, which are the response teams, my observation on several occasions was that the green response teams lack sophistication and are very one dimensional in their approach to any confrontation. This will lead to certain situations where they will attempt to resolve situations using the wrong technique, resulting in confrontation leading to a further fear for safety in the stadium. If this happens then there will in effect be areas where the OS will be very difficult to steward. The lack of a visible police presence and the subsequent response time to react to an escalation only reinforces this concern.
Percentage of stewards at the OS that transferred from the Boleyn.
1. Of the current number of stewards at the OS, what percentage were stewards that transferred over from the Boleyn?
2. Entrance to the stadium without searching. At the Bournemouth game my eldest daughter was wearing a backpack which was not searched. At the Astra game, I was not searched at all. Any sort of device could have been taken into the stadium. This needs to be resolved quickly and its obvious that the stewards responsible for this task were overwhelmed and intimidated by the occasion. There is a lack of experience on the stewards part and no adequate supervision of them is in place. What are the rules for searching people attaining the game, should back packs be inspected on entry?
3. Maintaining security during a game.
The stewards are not paying attention to the crowd around them during the game. By walking round the ground several times the stewards appear to be there for a social occasion, providing a directional service rather than recognising the importance of their roles and the necessity to maintain vigilance throughout. This is a training issue and requires reinforcement from the stadium authorities. What training has been provided in terms of hours per orange and green steward and is there any assessment post training that they have adequately understood the training and are ready to perform this important role?
4, Who sanctions the safety of the stewarding at the OS? Who is responsible for guaranteeing that the safety of the crowd control that is in place is effective? There is a safety certificate in place for the stadium overall but who is effectively saying that the stadium operator is acting safely in how they are providing the crowd control? Do the police have any input on the crowd management in and out of the stadium? Has the Met police validated that the crowd control in the OS is safe and working?
5. Steward Numbers – There appear to be sufficient numbers of stewards at the stadium, however supervision of the stewards seems a concern. What is the ratio of experienced football match supervisors to the number of stewards operating at the OS? By experienced football match supervisors, I define experienced football stewards as having one season of supervising stewards at football crowds of over 25K within the Premier League in the last 3 seasons.
6. Segregation
The issues around lack of segregation management, supporters of both teams using the same turnstiles are well documented. Given that these issues were allowed to happen before the first league game who is now reviewing the changes made to ensure that adequate precautions have been put in place to prevent other issues where supporters of both teams can intermingle within and outside the OS?
7. Is a wholesale review of the lessons learnt from the first few matches being undertaken around segregation and will these be implemented in time for the Watford match? If not what is outstanding that will not be implemented over what timescale?
8. Lack of Metpolice visibility within the stadium.
I understand that policing within a stadium comes at a cost, which the OS has chosen not to pay at this stage, therefore the Metpolice are not in the OS. however until the crowd management by the stewards in the OS can be confidently provided can some form of policing within the OS be implemented to reassure the crowds and provide support to the stewards. Metpolice mentoring and supporting the stewards would go a long way to improving the situation all round is my personal belief and may only be required for a short period until all parties are happy that significant progress has been made.
9. What numbers of Metpolice are available in less than 2 minutes inside the stadium should a serious situation emerge? What are the reasons for the OS to call in the Metpolice to deal with a situation, are these rules agreed between the OS and the MetPolice?
10. Has the local police borough undertaken exercises to support the stewards in a large crowd control situation at the stadium and are they familiar with all areas of the OS?
11. Standing
Personally, the standing issue is not a priority to me and whilst I understand it is impacting certain people who cannot see the pitch, can the club not quickly facilitate a seat swap scheme to immediately address this? Focussing on people sitting down will be difficult and take time, when an immediate solution to those without a view may be to allow people who want to move seats the ability to do so. Initiating a club seat swap scheme and trying to create a family section where families can congregate would be a positive step forward. Given other issues with segregation, safety and stewarding allowing people to quickly relocate to other areas of the ground will help to control safety and protect the more vulnerable should a serious safety situation occur.
At the moment, its a no win situation for those standing, those wanting to seat and the new stewards who have to manage this policy.
Short term there are higher priorities and if the response is to deal with supporters standing by “photographing and barring” those standing then it is a heavy handed approach when more serious issues exist. Also how do you prove who the guilty party is when it is a decision by the majority who chose to move from areas at the Boleyn where they previously could stand?
As the OS will cater for an additional 25K of supporters who are not experienced to "week in / week out" match day experiences, additional controls are required in the OS during this initial settling in period. If issues do occur, there are nearly 40% of the crowd who may not know what to expect, how to deal with the situation nor how to exit the stadium safely and quickly if required. They will turn to an inexperienced crowd control stewarding function who are poorly supervised will not know how to safely manage the situation.
For this reason I believe there is an urgent need for Policing in the stadium until the OS operator has proven its ability to the Metropolitan Police and London Mayor to safely manage the environment, guaranteeing that effective crowd management can be delivered across numerous scenarios.
Regards
xxxxxx
|
Lily Hammer
1:07 Thu Aug 25
Re: Introducing a Seat Swap Scheme for anyone not happy at the OS
|
The site is saying.....
"COYI Unofficial Season Ticket Seat Exchange
is back!
"This website is not affiliated with any entertainment arena in the world. This website is for test purposes only."
http://www.coyi-seatexchange.co.uk/index.php
Have they managed to get round any legal problems, or are they just sticking two fingers up?
Either way, good stuff.
COYI, indeed.
|
