Car parking and stewarding.

[Seasider78]

Interesting thread.

The Transport manager at The Amex is called Steve Reeves.

His email address is Steve.reeves@bhafc.co.uk and it is to him, IMO all correspondence should be sent, perhaps copying in Paul Barber. Good luck in getting a decent reply.

I have had correspondence him regarding transport issues at The Amex before, but unfortunately he sees no problems, there are, according to him no issues with transport, and in his opinion all the stewards are doing a great job. I wonder how many times he or any of his team have tried the various methods of transport to/from the stadium?

Obviously the thousands of people who leave early every game don't agree with him.

There are some excellent stewards - the young lady at the mill road P&R site is excellent at getting the busses full, but some of them are frankly useless. Why when arriving at the ground are there often 8 or more stewards (not an exaggeration, I counted them at the Doncaster game) stranding together chatting. No wonder the club employs 1,200 match day staff, most of them don't actually do anything.

I take on board PBs comments about the weather and the trains last night, but to be honest last night was shocking. (Last year I was at Green Bay, watching American football. It was snowing, there is no train station, yet a crowd of 70,000 was cleared in less time than it takes to clear the Amex)

Last night we booked the Uni car park, thinking as since it was only two quid dearer than P&R ( for two people) it was worth the small extra cost to ensure we got there on time, and had a fairly quick exit. It took us over 3/4 of an hour to get from the lights at the hikers rest to the lady at the entrance to the uni who was, on her own, checking every single name on a rain sodden piece of paper to make sure that you had booked. What was the point in sending out car park passes if each name had to be checked off a list in the pouring rain?

She (under instructions of course, not her fault) was single handed causing a huge traffic jam, and meant loads if people probably missed the KO. I also got the impression that the car park had been massively oversold. Finding somewhere to actually park was a joke, there was NO stewarding, they just stood around under their umbrellas chatting.

Don't get me started on how long it took to get out.

Once again, groups of stewards at the exits, standing around, doing sweet FA, when it desperately needed people actually stewarding, and directing the traffic.

I love the Amex, but there are some very simple things that could make the transport issues so much better. At no cost to the club, and if it stops people leaving early, surely that's a good thing.

I wonder whether the club would meet a delegation of people who use various methods of transport... P&R, local busses, trains, Uni parking, coaches, Bennett's field, bridge car park etc to discuss how things could be improved.

At the moment the club are burying their heads in the sand, and it could possibly start to put those who buy on a match by match basis off,maybe even affect ST sales.

Very well put and I echo your comments about the transport manager whose tweets have to be among the least helpful of any of the clubs communication lines. There is a real 'just get on and suffer it' tone to the responses.

Lasts nights university stewarding was a shambles and as a user of this each week it is certainly declining in organisation.

As you point out just simple common sense and organisation could go a long way to resolving the issues but nothing will move forward until the club acknowledge improvements can be made.

 

[East Preston Gull]

No reply from the parking pataweyo yet. I did email at about 11 pm last night though, so should get an apology and parking refund and half missed match ticket cost by about Christmas!! I thought Silverstone was bad but last night's fiasco, and frankly dishonest goings on took the piss, and for that reason I am out.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

No reply from the parking pataweyo yet. I did email at about 11 pm last night though, so should get an apology and parking refund and half missed match ticket cost by about Christmas!! I thought Silverstone was bad but last night's fiasco, and frankly dishonest goings on took the piss, and for that reason I am out.

Have you emailed the transport manager?

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Very well put and I echo your comments about the transport manager whose tweets have to be among the least helpful of any of the clubs communication lines. There is a real 'just get on and suffer it' tone to the responses.

Lasts nights university stewarding was a shambles and as a user of this each week it is certainly declining in organisation.

As you point out just simple common sense and organisation could go a long way to resolving the issues but nothing will move forward until the club acknowledge improvements can be made.

And what is so frustrating, is that the club is paying for hundreds of stewards, a tiny percentage of whom are actually doing anything.

 

[Seasider78]

And what is so frustrating, is that the club is paying for hundreds of stewards, a tiny percentage of whom are actually doing anything.

Our group has always been shocked at the number do we really need 4-5 stewards at the entrance to a car park?? However the most concerning thing is how many people will be put off going to games where transport is not included as it is such a ball ache getting in and out.

Whenever this is raised the same 'all car parks were cleared within 2 hours of the final whistle' metric gets trotted out as a measure of success without any acknowledgement of people's experiences.

Last night someone raised concern with the transport manager and the response was
[MENTION=5978]bhafc[/MENTION]transport: Oh dear how frustrating Dont forget it always takes 1hr20m to clear car parks. Dont matter if you sit in a car or in lounge/concourse #bhafc

So basically sit in your car or a lounge as you are not getting out anytime soon. And we wonder why so many leave early!!!!!

 

[East Preston Gull]

Have you emailed the transport manager?

I e-mailed supporter services with a header for parking complaints. If someone has other emails I should have used then that would be great.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

I e-mailed supporter services with a header for parking complaints. If someone has other emails I should have used then that would be great.

Steve.reeves@bhafc.co.uk

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

[MENTION=5978]bhafc[/MENTION]transport: Oh dear how frustrating Dont forget it always takes 1hr20m to clear car parks. Dont matter if you sit in a car or in lounge/concourse #bhafc

What a dreadful response.

 

[East Preston Gull]

Steve.reeves@bhafc.co.uk

Thanks, any chance of the email of Mr barber.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Thanks, any chance of the email of Mr barber.

Paul.barber@bhafc.co.uk

 

[Crispy Ambulance]

Park in Stanmer. Loads of room. 2 'no football parking' signs, 1 less than interested steward. Simples!

 

[East Preston Gull]

Paul.barber@bhafc.co.uk

Thank you

 

[Magicman]

I wonder whether the club would meet a delegation of people who use various methods of transport... P&R, local busses, trains, Uni parking, coaches, Bennett's field, bridge car park etc to discuss how things could be improved.

This needs doing , an excellent post , count me in for the delegation !!

 

[T soprano]

Appreciate due to work & people travelling Long distances they couldn't get to car parks much before 7pm but sometimes people need to use their sweed in situations like last night, I knew it would be a nightmare due to all the train problems so I did a bit of forward planning and thought to myself "I know what I'll do I'll leave for the Amex extra early tonight to avoid all the aggro"
So got to uni car park at 5:45 a leisurely stroll to Dicks Bar for Steak pie and a pint before I went to my seat at 7:30
It's like anything really if you wanna get your towel on a sunbed on holiday round a pool you gotta get up early, FORWARD PLANNING

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

This needs doing , an excellent post , count me in for the delegation !!

Here Here !!

Better still, survey all STHs - then act on the information provided.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Appreciate due to work & people travelling Long distances they couldn't get to car parks much before 7pm but sometimes people need to use their sweed in situations like last night, I knew it would be a nightmare due to all the train problems so I did a bit of forward planning and thought to myself "I know what I'll do I'll leave for the Amex extra early tonight to avoid all the aggro"
So got to uni car park at 5:45 a leisurely stroll to Dicks Bar for Steak pie and a pint before I went to my seat at 7:30
It's like anything really if you wanna get your towel on a sunbed on holiday round a pool you gotta get up early, FORWARD PLANNING

oh u make it sound so easy...i'm leaving now for the Wigan game...thank you so much

 

[T soprano]

oh u make it sound so easy...i'm leaving now for the Wigan game...thank you so much

Car park doesn't open till 12:00 Saturday

 

[T soprano]

If I get a ticket for a gig in London midweek I'll have half a day of work so it gives me plenty of time to get there in case any delays and can enjoy a few drinks and a meal before the event FORWARD PLANNING

 

[East Preston Gull]

Appreciate due to work & people travelling Long distances they couldn't get to car parks much before 7pm but sometimes people need to use their sweed in situations like last night, I knew it would be a nightmare due to all the train problems so I did a bit of forward planning and thought to myself "I know what I'll do I'll leave for the Amex extra early tonight to avoid all the aggro"
So got to uni car park at 5:45 a leisurely stroll to Dicks Bar for Steak pie and a pint before I went to my seat at 7:30
It's like anything really if you wanna get your towel on a sunbed on holiday round a pool you gotta get up early, FORWARD PLANNING

Forward planning got me from Bognor to Coldean Lane in plenty of time for the match. The parking pataweyo juggling clowns who said my the car park was full even though I had a ticket, was not in the forward planning schedule.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Appreciate due to work & people travelling Long distances they couldn't get to car parks much before 7pm but sometimes people need to use their sweed in situations like last night, I knew it would be a nightmare due to all the train problems so I did a bit of forward planning and thought to myself "I know what I'll do I'll leave for the Amex extra early tonight to avoid all the aggro"
So got to uni car park at 5:45 a leisurely stroll to Dicks Bar for Steak pie and a pint before I went to my seat at 7:30
It's like anything really if you wanna get your towel on a sunbed on holiday round a pool you gotta get up early, FORWARD PLANNING

As you say, work does tend to get in the way sometimes. We can't all get to the car park two hours before kick off. As I said in my OP, it took over 3/4 of an hour to travel a few hundred yards last night because if piss poor organisation.

Complete joke.