17 Comments

OS restricted to 54,000 on safety grounds

certThe former Olympic Stadium is still restricted to a capacity of 54,000 for football games despite claims that capacity has already been increased to 60,000.

ClaretandHugh has obtained a copy of the all-important safety certificate issued by Newham council to French stadium operators London Stadium 185 Limited.

The safety certificate was re-issued just over two weeks ago and is valid for 12 months, yet it clearly limits pitch events including football and rugby to a capacity of 54,000 while athletics track events are limited to a capacity of 56,000.

Version 5 of the certificate was issued on 20th May 2016 and signed by Newham council on 25th May 2016.

osOn 24th March released a statement saying “In conjunction with the London Legacy Development Corporation, Newham Council and Stadium operators LS185, West Ham United are delighted to announce that the former Olympic Stadium will now boast a capacity of 60,000 for Hammers matchdays.”

West Ham have since boasted having 52,000 season ticket holders and when you include a 3,000 away fan allocation and a 3,000 general admission requirement from the Premier League you get to the  number of 58,000.

We know the Juventus pre-season friendly game on 7th August is limited to a capacity of 54,000.

Claret and Hugh asked the press offices of LLDC and Newham Council Ham to comment whether an application has been made to increase the capacity on the safety certificate to 60,000 before the start of the Premier League season and how long that process would take. After eight days we have yet to receive a reply.

Sources close to club have since told Claret and Hugh that they understand a new application is underway but nothing can be confirmed until it is agreed by Newham council.

 

About Sean Whetstone

I am Season Ticket Holder in West stand lower at the London Stadium and before that, I used to stand in the Sir Trevor Brooking Lower Row R seat 159 in the Boleyn Ground and in the Eighties I stood on the terraces of the old South Bank. I am a presenter on the West Ham Podcast called MooreThanJustaPodcast.co.uk. A Blogger on WestHamTillIdie.com a member of the West Ham Supporters Advisory Board (SAB), Founder of a Youtube channel called Mr West Ham Football at http://www.youtube.com/MrWestHamFootball, I am also the associate editor here at Claret and Hugh. Life Long singer of bubbles! Come on you Irons! Follow me at @Westhamfootball on twitter

17 comments on “OS restricted to 54,000 on safety grounds

  1. I don’t doubt the club is moving forward with the plans to increase capacity to 60’000 but i’m sure there is always a lot of red tape and negotiating to be carried out in these matters ‘ far more than we probably realise . No panic as far as i can see , lets just get in to the place first and leave this sort of detail to those who know best .

    • But I believe they have already sold the extra season ticket Pete.

      If their claim of 52,000 season ticket holders is true, I assume they are used a little artistic artist by including the 3,700 corporate member in that figure. Premier League Regulations say we must have 3,000 away allocation and 5% available for general admission also 3,000.

      If we draw a home game on the 13th August and a safety certificate is not in place I can see problems. Even if the premier league give special permission to wave the 5% general admission reserve and the away team take a lower allocation it would still mean several thousand ticket holders might not be able to take up their seats for the first game.

      Everything seems so last minute.

  2. Something doesn’t stack up. If we really have sold 52k season tickets and the capacity really is limited to 54k then the club is stuffed for the start of the season at least.

  3. Luckily Newham issue the safety cert so I’m guessing it might not be to hard to sort this out

  4. The extra tickets sold are mainly in the top tiers ? So how does that even pan out to extra seating ?? Confusing to say the least ,? If Newham gave permission with lldc then a new certificate must be endorsed , the plot thickens !!! Sort it out a.s.a.p, please it sounds like another bag of O/S worms ?
    I wonder who is going to jump on the bandwagon first ?

  5. I have since been updated that a new application is underway to increase to 60,000 but no timescales yet

  6. The council can award a new certificate in 24 hours once it’s done it’s checks,so it’s not a sure thing one way or another,
    Even our people surely are not that stupid to sell season tickets that are worthless,
    I am sure Lady B with her contacts and the 2 Daves with their check books will get it done on time

    • Bubs do you know this for a fact? Public department rarely turn around anything in 24 hours in my experience. 😉 I am not suggesting the club acted in bad faith. I am just reporting we can’t host games with 60,000 fans at present

  7. this does not make scene they said they sold 52,000 where are the away fans going to stay and what when we get a cup match we will have to give 7,500 ticket to the away team and what about the 3,000 seat available on match days I though this was an fa rule someone ****ed up big time or someone is telling porkies

    • But FA cup games are not included in your season ticket. The reality is that some season tickets will not be able to buy their own seat for big cup games. If we draw a big team in the cup it would be a problem. The small print in the latest season tickets sold say your seat is not guaranteed for cup games.

  8. Do any of you honestly believe that there is not some jobs worth or administrators at the club who dont have all this in hand.Sure they do.

    • Nothing to do with the club as it not our stadium. The stadium is owned by E20 Stadium LLP a joint venture between the LLDC and Newham Council. They have outsourced the operation of the stadium to french company Vinci Stadium who have created a company called London Stadium 185 Limited to run it. It is London Stadium 185 who must apply for the safety certificate and up to Newham council to grant it.

      We just rent the stadium and just hope the people running it get their act together

      • Very true Sean,i was having a C&H low IQ moment lol
        It could well be complete carnage then 🙂

  9. By increasing the capacity the major consideration I guess is how exiting the stadium could be affected in the event of either an evacuation or a disaster and also what it would be like on normal match days ? The pure solution to that would probably be at least one exit through Westfield and other exits elsewhere rather than funnelling everyone to Stratford but I doubt Westfield would go for that for fear of their shops and customers getting caught up in football related mayhem, 60 or 66000 trying to get to the supposably best connected stadium in London is not a great model because all bar one of the stations are located at Stratford and the other one is one stop away on the same line, you wouldn’t have much more than a snowballs chance in hell of getting on that overground unless you left quite early.

  10. “West Ham have since boasted having 52,000 season ticket holders and when you include a 3,000 away fan allocation and a 3,000 general admission requirement from the Premier League you get to the magic number of 60,000.”

    Shocking arithmetic

  11. Hmmm,thats a first.We are used to the Spelling Police on here BB.Now we have the Arithmetic Police as well lol

Comments are closed.