Brighton Station Pre Match Last Night

[Pinkie Brown]

For the umpteenth time this season, drove to Lewes, parked in town, got a train about 6.50 (fullish) and was in the ground just after 7. Afterwards, clapped the team off, queued for a while (not sure how long, maybe 15 mins) just behind the top of the ramp, then shuffled slowly all the way to the platform without stopping and was back in Lewes about 10.20 and home by 10.40. Transport has been great this season.

I travel from the east and bar a few hiccups here and there, have never experienced any real problems. I know plenty who come from the other direction and there are lots of horror stories.

Its not rocket science to work out, most problems are midweek games when trains seem to have less carriages. I could half understand the argument from the train companies when they say carriages are needed for the afternoon rush hour. But after the game from 9.30pm at night? That excuse doesn't wash with me.

 

[papajaff]

So you were at the station 50 mins before kick off for a.journey that takes 15 mins, that you may wait for 15 mins and have a.potential 7 minutes from train to seat. 37 mins in all without queues. Sounds tight to me even on a good day

Yes for Christ's sake; I agree with you. I took it on the chin even though Southern Rail COULD have put on more carriages.

I will always be there no matter what. My worry is that others will not. Reflected in last night's attendance.

 

[Pintos]

Also suffered from the Brighton station omnishambles. They really should build a monorail between the Amex, my house and my office.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

There are no extra coaches on midweek evenings !! This topic comes up after EVERY evening midweek game. Coaches are near 100% being used for peak time commuter services, but alas some fans think these should be cancelled so football can come first - try telling that to those that pay thousands each year !! There arent much more at FT either as coaches are often parked up in other depots for morning peak services, IE up in London. If you had the choice of a 3/4 car train or nothing - what would you rather have ? We should be lucky anything ran at all last night with Southern running very close to not having enough staff at all !!

ALL transport to the Amex was busier than usual last night, for the first time in the Amex era ALL P&R was full up, even Race Hill for the first time. It was obvious this was going to happen with more people, yet some still try leaving for the Amex under an hour before KO and try and blame it on the transport !!

 

[Falmer Flutter ©]

That's not the point though Luke. As I said, I got to Btn Stn at 6.55 and took my seat at 8.07. By the time I'd seen the 2 and 3 carriage trains come and go and then everyone else at the back push through the barriers; we were 1-0 up.

The point is that a lot of people stayed away last night because of transport issues that the club (not their fault) haven't been able to iron out with the various companies.

27118 I believe the crowd was. Pss poor for a play off game.

I also arrived at Brighton Station at 6.55. Saw the queue. Walked down Trafalgar Street. Had a very quick pint in the Prince George. Caught the No.25 bus from by St Peter's Church. Took my seat at 7.40.

 

[Lush]

I'm always amazed at how late people leave it to get from Brighton to the Amex. At 6 - 6.15pm, so just an hour and a half before kick off, and you still see people wandering off the west coast trains and wandering off to one of the pubs near the station at that time.

 

[Bwian]

So you were at the station 50 mins before kick off for a.journey that takes 15 mins, that you may wait for 15 mins and have a.potential 7 minutes from train to seat. 37 mins in all without queues. Sounds tight to me even on a good day

I was with him and a few others and normally our timing gets us to The Amex with enough time to get something to eat and take our seats within 5 or 10 minutes of kick off.

The journey takes between 7 and 9 minutes. 5 minutes walk. 15 minutes wait at Bton Stn. NORMALLY. I make that 30 minutes. Tight but regularly do - able. That is providing the train company provides more than 2 or 3 coach trains to shift a couple of thousand people waiting for a train. Factor in the total incompetence of the police and station staff (actually it wasn't only incompetence - they clearly didn't give a shit). The feckwits even put us on one train only to tell us it was out of service and made us all get off.

The club needs to bang some heads together because midweek shambles like last night will lead to people staying away.

The problem isn't going away for at least 95 years and they've had 3 seasons now to see what is needed. One thing needed as a minimum is a set of barriers that selfish arsewipes aren't able to knock over or climb over to get on a train others have been waiting in line for. What happened to the system of restricting numbers waiting inside the station? That worked and stopped tossers barging their way onto trains.

 

[The Large One]

I'm always amazed at how late people leave it to get from Brighton to the Amex. At 6 - 6.15pm, so just an hour and a half before kick off, and you still see people wandering off the west coast trains and wandering off to one of the pubs near the station at that time.

There is something quite distasteful in being compelled to watch the Albion sober.

But I get your point.

 

[ditchy]

" We should be lucky anything ran at all last night with Southern running very close to not having enough staff at all !!"

Why Should we be lucky in this day and age that Southern are not competent to hire more staff rather than penny pinch . people pay enough in fares !!

 

[soistes]

But how would they have managed it in Germany?

 

[Guinness Boy]

There are no extra coaches on midweek evenings !! This topic comes up after EVERY evening midweek game. Coaches are near 100% being used for peak time commuter services, but alas some fans think these should be cancelled so football can come first - try telling that to those that pay thousands each year !! There arent much more at FT either as coaches are often parked up in other depots for morning peak services, IE up in London. If you had the choice of a 3/4 car train or nothing - what would you rather have ? We should be lucky anything ran at all last night with Southern running very close to not having enough staff at all !!

ALL transport to the Amex was busier than usual last night, for the first time in the Amex era ALL P&R was full up, even Race Hill for the first time. It was obvious this was going to happen with more people, yet some still try leaving for the Amex under an hour before KO and try and blame it on the transport !!

But there were 27,000 people there. The club say we get that every game

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

But there were 27,000 people there. The club say we get that every game

Funny looking people dressed as blue seats then

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Credit where its due, I thought trains back into town after the game were excellent. OK, so that was partly due to a train that was supposed to come at (I think) 2145 was five minutes late, allowing more people to file down on to it, then there was one another couple of minutes after that (21:57). Both eight carriages. Hurrah!

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The failure that I saw last night was post-match, when two Lewes-bound trains were allowed to leave Falmer with masses of space available on the trains (not just standing room, but unoccupied seats) at about 10.30pm, while there was still a long queue of people being denied access to the platform. I tried to have a conversation about this with the stewards who were controlling the gate and with one of BTP's Community Rail Officers, but they all adopted that glazed-eye stance of pretending to be unaware that someone was trying to speak with them. When I spoke with the conductor on the train, he agreed that there was plenty of space, but said (quite rightly) that there was nothing he could do, if the people controlling things at Falmer get it wrong.

They did get it wrong, and a lot of people were unnecessarily delayed. All it would take to avoid this happening is to have one intelligent member of staff whose sole job is to monitor the availability of space on the train and communicate effectively with the people controlling the access gate to the platform. This isn't difficult on the Lewes-bound platform at Falmer.

 

[Official Old Man]

Different area but the guy in charge of directing people into the correct P&R queue post match didn't know which queue was which. And when someone asked him about the trains he hadn't a clue.

 

[Lincoln Imp]

Problems arise every night game, why does this surprise people? Leave slightly earlier than usual (I aim for the 18:38 train to Falmer for night games, never fails).

Congratulations on having a work/leisure schedule that allows you to get to the ground an hour before kick off.

We were on the train last night because having to leave home in Hurstpierpoint at around six to catch the Seagulls Travel coach for a 7.45pm match at the Amex isn't always possible. We therefore got to Brighton Station at around seven and were caught up in the mayhem. Everything critical that's been said against the police (posing around as oberstormfuhrers right up the the moment when they actually had to do something) and station staff is true.

The train that left Brighton at around 7.35 was appallingly and dangerously overcrowded, right up into the centre of the carriages. Before that there had been an uncontrolled surge across the platforms as all police crowd control broke down - this went over an area of the station that included a large step and if one person had tripped on to the ground at this point then someone could have died. There was no proper communication between the crowd and the people supposed to be managing it. Not even an old fashion megaphone.

We eventually got to the Amex 20 minutes after kick off and made other arrangements for getting home.

This is the reality of the fan experience Mr Barber - you can sit in your cosy world all day long sending out your syrupy emails and picking up your £10,000 a week salary but nothing will alter the fact that for many supporters - including this one, with over 30 years' unbroken season ticket experience including the Gillingham and Withdean years - the whole Albion experience is starting to stutter. You can concentrate on the beloved corporates you feel will be flocking to the Albion when we get to the Premier League as much as you like but if you don't start loving the ordinary supporters more any sales victories you have will be hollow ones.

You could make a small start by employing a few more people who actually support the Albion.

 

[Marty___Mcfly]

Its just not worth getting a train to an evening match anymore as it is such a shambles.

Got a taxi yesterday from town, dropped off at Stanmer Park entrance and walked over from there. Took about 15 mins in total and cost about £10 between the three of us. Shame to have to pay when the trains are free but it beats walking to the station, queuing for ages, being squeezed on to a train, and then missing your pre-match pint and the start of the match.

 

[Gwylan]

Still, at least the Coldean NIMBYs had some nice empty streets.

I came home just after 10.00 last night and there was a queue of cars trying to get out of Coldean. People are either chancing it or getting resident passes but it was crowded as it was last season up there

 

[Grapes of Wrath]

Like many others, got to Bton station just before 7 & got to the ground just in time to see first goal.

Last night was not only a shambles at the station, but dangerous. Someone is going to get hurt one day, I grabbed a kid as he got pushed in the crush to get on the train & started to fall in the gap between the train & the platform & had got separated from his dad. Frightening!.

 

[WSU Dilettante]

All the trains were 3 or 4 coaches and not the usual 6-8 and they were half empty. It was the worst i have known it there in 3 years

I tweeted Southern Rail & Brighton Station (who after the replies I received, it is clear this is not an "official" account) about this last night, Southern said that all trains were 6 or 8 cars last night. Now either I cant count, or Southern dont know what their on about in the slightest (to be fair, either one is a possibility).

Biggest game of the season and they dont think they need long trains as per normal? I appreciate it was fairly short notice, but surely there is a contingency for instances such as last night.

Piss poor planning and execution.