Some Hammers missed kick-off on Saturday after due to lengthy search queues at bridges leading to the London Stadium.
A new security search procedure was introduced at the beginning of the season partly in response to an increased terrorist threat.
All supporters are now checked at each of the five bridges to the Stadium island and while it worked well for the Monday evening Huddersfield game there has been overcrowding at both the Spurs and Swansea games.
On Saturday it was bridge 1 in front of the large screen with the West Ham United that suffered queues of up to 30 minutes to get searched.
One of those caught up in the queues who missed kickoff was the friend of Claret And Hugh, Gonzo from Hammers Chat who spoke to us about his ordeal. Hammers Chat run canal boats for their members to eat and drink within a few minutes of the stadium to allow fans to drink to the last possible moment.
Gonzo told us: “We left the boats at 2.32pm thinking we had plenty of time to get into the stadium. It took us around half an hour to get to our seats when it usually takes five minutes. We missed kickoff and got to our seats at three minutes past three”
Gonzo videoed his wait in the queue as part of his matchday VLOG which can be found below.
West Ham published an announcement on the 7th September encouraging fans to use the nearest bridge to their turnstile but this appears to have gone unheeded.
Won’t be long until people are made to use the bridge nearest their turnstile instead of everyone piling over the same 2
You have hit the nail on the head. Everyone is using bridges 5 and 1.
We were told to use the nearest bridge to the turnstile in the announcement on 7th September
https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2017/september/07-september/new-security-search-process-place-home-matches
will become a rule rather than advice eventually, and probably make things better for everyone
all they#’d need do is to put a few barrirers to stop people being able to walk right round the island no matter what bridge they come from
Is this another ploy to get us into the stadium earlier to buy their beer at £4.90 a go.
it’s 3.50 a go if you get in early! goes up an hour before kick off
I went on Saturday and got to the security at around 1.45 and there were no queues. I know this is early for some but security isn’t the fault of the club it’s the world we live in. Can you imagine what it would be like at Upton Park!
There were security checks last season but at the turnstiles so spread out. The searching methods are the same just earlier at the bridges.
The problem is everyone goes to bridges 1 and 5
I am guessing the reason for the change is to do with the Manchester terrorist attack. In that incident a terrorist wandered in through exit doors at the end of the concert. I guess they were worried the same thing could happen at the London Stadium post match hence the security to get on the stadium island. It makes sense
on the flip side
i left canary wharf at 2;30 and only missed 6 minutes & i used same bridge as Gonzo, no queue at all at 3pm