London Stadium supporter return down to safety group

The final decision on whether West Ham supporters can return to London Stadium in December will be down the Newham council-led Safety Advisory Group.

The government are widely expected to confirm this morning that London will return to Tier 2 which will mean up to 2,000 supporters are permitted to be present at home games after 3rd December. That means we got see 2,000 fans at the West Ham v Manchester United game on 5th December subject to safety approval.

There will be an emergency meeting of the Safety Advisory Group to gain approval before that match.

Previously London Underground told the safety meeting that they need to manage expectations as they have a statutory and moral obligation to implement social distancing on the network. Flow into the stations would need to be vastly reduced to ensure implementation of 2-metre distancing. Any queues formed outside the station will need to be managed by the stadium operators LS185.

TFL said wanted clarification of responsibility of queues outside the underground and stations and the use of stop and holds boards which could be used for considerably longer periods.  Stadium operators LS185  said that they cannot enforce the stop and hold if there is an issue on the trains. Transport would also be an issue if supporters plan to travel to the stadium by car it was claimed.