West Ham fans banned from £9.5m entrance

A new £9.5m public funded entrance to Stratford Station will NOT be available on West Ham match days it has been claimed.

The new Gibbons Road/Carpenters Estate entrance and exit was developed in collaboration with Transport for London (TfL) and the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC). It was funded from Newham Council’s Community Infrastructure Levy, £1 million, and £3.8 million by the LLDC.

There is currently at least one person managing the exit. It is open during normal station times.

Unfortunately, on event days (including when West Ham United are playing at home) and when there is a high volume of traffic (up to 65,000 people) the exit is closed. This is due to Newham Council and local police being unwilling to fund the extra staffing needed outside the station. Health and safety reasons prevent staff from working away from TFL premises.

A Hammers United spokesman told Claret and Hugh “The Independent Supporters Committe (ISC) and now the FAB (Fans Advisory Board) of which Hammers United are members,   have consistently over a period of at least three years asked for representation on the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) and have always had their requests refused. There has been absolutely no consultation with the twelve fan groups who make up the FAB.   It has been noted that representatives from Sadlers Wells and Abba Voyage are represented on the SAG, but not West Ham football fans. Clearly this is both wrong and unacceptable to the 60,000 plus West Ham fans who have to contend with getting to and from the London Stadium on match days.”

A West Ham Supporters Trust (WHUST) Spokesman told Claret and Hugh  “WHUST have been following the development of the new Gibbons Road/Carpenters Estate entrance since our meeting with Newham SAG members in 2020. The new entrance was ever designed to be used for events. There are 4 ticket barriers at this gate line at the entrance – 2 for entry and 2 for exit. They simply could not cope with the volumes of people on an event day. The pinch points in Stratford station are not the gate lines – there is spare capacity at the other entrances. It is not just TfL staff having to man the barriers but all the additional LS185 staff that would be needed to manage all the extra stop/go holding points through Carpenters Estate.  This would also mean closing roads on the Estate. 

Many people already use the Carpenters Estate to avoid the stop/go boards – to then go over the really old footbridge there to the Great Eastern Road entrance.  Having this entrance operational would cause an increase which would simply be unmanageable. Also the justification for funding the entrance was for the redevelopment of Carpenters Estate which will see an additional 1,300 homes in the next 5+ years.

I think that we would be raising considerable safety concerns at the first sign of overcrowding in the narrow confines on the pathway leading up to the entrance especially for infirm and disabled passengers.

It would have been nice for a supporter representative to be involved with Newham Council’s Safety Advisory Group so that these issues can be discussed and understand the reasoning behind some of their decisions.”

On Wednesday, the new Carpenters Estate entrance to Stratford Station was officially opened.

LLDC principals joined Stratford & Bow MP Uma Kumaran, Mayor of Newham Rokhsana Fiaz, London Assembly member Unmesh Desai & representatives from Newham Council, TFL, Network Rail & others to mark completion of works.