Car parking and stewarding.

[pal4life]

Having taken the advice from the clubs email we left Worthing at 17:50 having purchased a ticket for the Uni car park. We managed to get through the Lancing flood and made it to Coldean Ln by 18:45. This is the wY that the club ask you to go if parking at the uni. We sat there and sat there and sat there eventually making it to a car park at 19:42.
My point is what do the stewards actually do? There was not a single steward trying to help keep the traffic moving and when you got into the campus we got waved passed severel empty spaces and indeed a half empty car park .
Whatever the club pay them it is too much in my opinion.
I appreciate the club can not be held responsible for the main highway but surely that is not an acceptable wait to travel about 1.5 miles to enter the campus.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Having taken the advice from the clubs email we left Worthing at 17:50 having purchased a ticket for the Uni car park. We managed to get through the Lancing flood and made it to Coldean Ln by 18:45. This is the wY that the club ask you to go if parking at the uni. We sat there and sat there and sat there eventually making it to a car park at 19:42.
My point is what do the stewards actually do? There was not a single steward trying to help keep the traffic moving and when you got into the campus we got waved passed severel empty spaces and indeed a half empty car park .
Whatever the club pay them it is too much in my opinion.
I appreciate the club can not be held responsible for the main highway but surely that is not an acceptable wait to travel about 1.5 miles to enter the campus.

We also set off early, got into the uni with about fifteen minutes to spare but were directed to car park 1. Car park 1 was jammed full and all the stewards succeeded in doing was creating a massive jam in there. They were still directing cars in when we were trying to get out. Then we went to car park 2 which had been empty for some reason. It was an almighty cock up and in spite of the fact that we ran from there, we missed the first fifteen minutes of the match.

 

[goldstone]

A complete foul up with the parking tonight. Coldean Lane was jammed because of cars trying to turn left into another jam heading to the Uni car park. It isn't rocket science to control a parking lot.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

A complete foul up with the parking tonight. Coldean Lane was jammed because of cars trying to turn left into another jam heading to the Uni car park. It isn't rocket science to control a parking lot.

They appeared to have oversold the uni tickets. There were many vehicles that ended up parked in undesignated spaces.

 

[Lord Bamber]

Either the club oversold the uni parking 3:1 or a lot of people were blagging their way in. Or both.

Whatever the answer, tonight was the worst worst worst attempt at car parking control I have ever witnessed. To the point, the stewards were just shrugging their shoulders to anyone who wanted to get through and letting them drive in and park where they wanted.

 

[LamieRobertson]

I'd say that was the worse travel experience down coldean lane since the move to the amex....hopefully it will be a one off

 

[crookie]

Took 45 mins from exiting A27 Southbound at Stanmer Park exit to parking in Car Park 1. A distance of a mile at most. Lucky I had given myself plenty of time, shame I only had time for 1 pint pre match instead of 2 and there were no decent pies left. Could have been hell getting out, but just followed others out of the back of the car park and missed the huge jam getting out. Shambles.

 

[Sergio Garcia]

A parking disaster - stewards were a waste of time tonight. Club needs to take responsibility for a complete gash of a mess that was the uni parking.....although I did discover a short cut out of the back of car park 1.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Worst ever I've seen at The Bridge Car Park. Stayed behind for a pint, got to the car park just after half ten, normally I'm straight out but this time queued for just over 20 mins, left the car park at 10.50.

 

[severnside gull]

Does the fact that no-one has posted about Bennetts Field mean they are still stuck in there?

 

[happypig]

Hopefully it will be a lesson to them not to do pay on the gate parking again, I missed the first 5/6 minutes because of being stuck in traffic for half an hour.

 

[Trelford Mills Guide Dog]

Absolute shower of sh*t !

 

[The Oldman]

Tried uni car park for first time. Never again. What do we actually pay these stewards for? Just standing about having a chat? The club obviously oversold the tickets. I arrived at 6.30 at the turn off from the A270 but did not actually get parked until 7.30. Thank goodness for the short cut through the Veiola depot after the game.

 

[Withdean and I]

Utter utter cock up all round on the car parking tonight.

We had our usual ticket for the University Car Park which we have never experienced trouble getting into.

Tonight though I knew something was wrong when car were queuing back onto the Westbound A27. We moved hardly anywhere in 30 mins and realised at this rate we would miss the start of the match - this despite joining the queue at 6.45pm.

So I took a left turn into the Bridge Car Park. No queue to get in but getting out.......WOW!!!! Left the Amex straight after the final whistle and was back in car by about 9.45pm. Car park was then gridlocked and we finally got out just after 11.00pm!!!

Never again is all I can say. It's the train from now on.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Is this a bad place to say that the P&R tonight was pretty efficient ? Took 20 minutes from Mill Road to the Amex (partly due to the driver cutting up most of the traffic on the slip road - bus lane is BADLY needed) and 40 minutes back to Mill Road, queuing included.

Mithras House P&R queue was cleared within 15 minutes too so clearly that wasnt full up. The club should have communicated that there was availability there.

Bennetts Field still looked pretty jammed up when i drove back past the Amex at 10.35 too.

 

[Withdean and I]

My mate who did get parked in the University Car Park after queuing from 6.20pm until 7pm to get in said that the stewards who man the entrance and normally just check you have your paid parking voucher were tonight asking everyone for proof of purchase!!!! No wonder delays!!!

Then another mate, despite pre booking, arrived late and was told it was full. It was only because he blagged his way in saying there would probably be space in the gym car park and the stewards said oh go on then good luck!!!

Tinpot organisation tonight!!!

 

[sully]

First time I've used the university car parking. I don't think I'll bother again. Only just made kick off, but the organisation in the car parks was woeful. Did they just decide to let anyone in? Our voucher wasn't checked and we ended up getting no directions at all but just followed the car in front until we ended up in a car park.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Sounds like it was a free-for-all then.

Just dont start using the P&R, the service keeps improving throughout the season !!

 

[Algernon]

Drove down from Newmarket having pre booked Sussex uni parking, taking 2 hours 20 mins with my Son in law and my 5 year old Grandson (his first game and looking forward to it for ten days.) We started early to make a day of it and came over Falmer road from Woodingdean at 6:15 and was directed straight across the A27. The Steward there told me in broken English to go back over the A27 and take the second right to Stanmer Park and that it was signposted. Having lived in Brighton up until about 15 years ago I was a bit confused but thought there must've been a back way to Stanmer Park. No, there wasn't I ended up asking stewards in Bennetts Field (think that's the one) who told me to take the slip road down to the A27 heading back toward the Bridge Car Park. I eventually got in to the Uni compound at 7:45 and was told to head for Car Park 2, got there and were told it was full but they had no idea where to send us. They then called someone up on the radio and we were told to go to Car Park 1, also full when we got there. After 10 minutes of blocking the road requesting someone in authority to talk to we were told "we have no idea where you should go because all the car parks are full" but then were sent across to the Brighton Uni car park? (behind the West Stand?.) We eventually got to our West Stand Upper seats about a minute after Leo scored. Getting out was crap too because buses kept coming up and blocking the only exit. There were hundreds of people undergoing the same problems having pre-booked and with nowhere to park. I felt sorry for the Stewards as they were copping all the grief. Finally got home to Newmarket at 00:50. What a shyte experience, whoever signed off the Traffic Management plan for the Stadium needs shooting. One way in or out of car parks isn't sufficient with that much traffic and the traffic lights onto the Falmer Road and by the Bridge Car Park aren't on green for long enough. I will be firing off an email to the club tomorrow and asking for a refund of my pre=paid parking fee. What should have been a great day for the family was totally spoiled by someone, I have no idea who. What the heck went wrong tonight?

 

[trueblue]

Drove down from Newmarket having pre booked Sussex uni parking, taking 2 hours 20 mins with my Son in law and my 5 year old Grandson (his first game and looking forward to it for ten days.) We started early to make a day of it and came over Falmer road from Woodingdean at 6:15 and was directed straight across the A27. The Steward there told me in broken English to go back over the A27 and take the second right to Stanmer Park and that it was signposted. Having lived in Brighton up until about 15 years ago I was a bit confused but thought there must've been a back way to Stanmer Park. No, there wasn't I ended up asking stewards in Bennetts Field (think that's the one) who told me to take the slip road down to the A27 heading back toward the Bridge Car Park. I eventually got in to the Uni compound at 7:45 and was told to head for Car Park 2, got there and were told it was full but they had no idea where to send us. They then called someone up on the radio and we were told to go to Car Park 1, also full when we got there. After 10 minutes of blocking the road requesting someone in authority to talk to we were told "we have no idea where you should go because all the car parks are full" but then were sent across to the Brighton Uni car park? (behind the West Stand?.) We eventually got to our West Stand Upper seats about a minute after Leo scored. Getting out was crap too because buses kept coming up and blocking the only exit. There were hundreds of people undergoing the same problems having pre-booked and with nowhere to park. I felt sorry for the Stewards as they were copping all the grief. Finally got home to Newmarket at 00:50. What a shyte experience, whoever signed off the Traffic Management plan for the Stadium needs shooting. One way in or out of car parks isn't sufficient with that much traffic and the traffic lights onto the Falmer Road and by the Bridge Car Park aren't on green for long enough. I will be firing off an email to the club tomorrow and asking for a refund of my pre=paid parking fee. What should have been a great day for the family was totally spoiled by someone, I have no idea who. What the heck went wrong tonight?

What the heck went wrong last night on site certainly needs investigating. If the club sells parking, it has to be honoured. But what the heck goes wrong overall is that far too many people who don't need to still use the worst possible way of getting to the ground and then moan about it afterwards. Not a pop at you as coming from a very long distance, it's more understandable to drive but I'm still always amazed by the number of relatively local people I meet who seem to think getting a train or bus is some terrible trial. The Amex is pretty easy to get to from town or park and rides, so even drivers have the option of parking further afield. People just need to accept it may take half an hour to get there and half an hour to get away. Like pretty much everywhere that has 20-30000 people arriving/leaving at once.