How did those City fans manage to get their very own police escort all the way home today? Up to 4 police cars at any one time working in unison. I reckon 3 different police forces used to make sure the naughty lads didn't stop for a pee at Blythe Services. I was on the Tiger Travel coaches which didn't even get so much as a police motorcycle escort from the ground. Were any of you on the PJR Minibus today and if so what the hell did you do to earn such high profile attention?
My Tiger Travel coach got a police escort away from the ground i think it's because they knew i was onboard they had to protect my high profile reputation
I was on the Pearsons coach, also part of the massive Police escort convoy. We were also denied access to any services and were escorted by Nottinghamshire & South Yorkshire Police all the way to Howden! The journey from Nottingham took 2 hours 15 mins and added some 70 miles extra to the home trip. We were escorted from Alfreton before the match as well and that journey took an hour and a half which should have took only 20 mins at best! What 'intelligence' the Police had regarding the people on the Pearsons coach was seriously misguided (I cannot speak for the PJR minibus)! The coach was full of 40+ year old men, women & some children, all of whom were extremely well behaved. An absolute disgrace in my opinion! A total waste of Police time, resouces and above all public money. The only thing the people on the bus were guilty of was spending their hard earned money in the Nottinghamshire local economy and being football fans, who it seem rate higher on the crime scale than the gun toting thugs, drug dealers etc that Nottingham seems to have major problems with. SHAME ON YOU NOTTINGHAMSHIRE POLICE! I will be writing to your Chief Constable to explain the actions of your officers and why Human Rights to sanitation were ignored despited being promised! I will also be requesting the cost of this little 'operation' through the Freedom of Information Act, all of this will then be sent to my MP for his consideration. Watch this space folks because St. George IS cross!
Sounds a terrible day out. I am also quite surprised because our experience of the day was that police and stewards were generally better than we get at other grounds. Admittedly we went by car but there was no trauma and the police we met were up for a bit of banter. Must have been some very dodgy intelligence on the part of the police in what you experienced. You're right to expect some answers about the way you were treated. Worst part of the day for us seemed to be the traffic after the match - I wouldn't want to be a home supporter doing that every other week.
I drive to every game to avoid all this bollocks, it's farcical that so many police resources are wasted in this way. And despite apparently employing people who speak English as their first language in the concourse kiosks, they're were still no better than the herberts we employ at the KC. Were they on a go-slow? It took me 25 minutes to get a pint and there were only six people ahead of me in the queue.
The day was great & we didn't really mind the escort in as we had a right good sing song on the bus and the time flew by! We were all in good sprits on the way back all things considered, until we were denied access to the services when people with full bladders were becoming very anxious indeed!
as i was sitting in traffic after the game, matty fryatt came wandering across the main road, dodging the traffic in his city tracksuit...im assuming he lives nearby and was in car..just seemed a bit random for the matchwinner to come walking past as he was being talked about on the radio..
what made me laugh was me and two of my mates went and we walked through the police at the exit, someone tried to follow us and they got stopped apparently they looked more 'threatening' its stupid how they sort it, for all they know we could have had kniifes on us, they were useless and didn't have a clue
I find the phrase "Why are you stopping me, my editor will want to know..." works quite well when the police want to stop you, especially if you've got a laptop in your bag (which I do at away games for on the train).
I know he's from Nuneaton which isn't far from me and it was his birthday so probably rushing off to get home ready for a night out on the piss? I know I would be
What about the fact that you couldn't get a pint at half time, Very poor indeed and I was also very disappointed by the state of the shed they put us in, I was sat right at the back under the stand and it was like being in a cage. Also, when we exited the stadium, The police had formed ranks and would not let us pass until we told them we were not in a coach. We did manage to find a real-ale pub at the back of Trent Bridge somewhere, so it was a pretty good day out overall.
