For the second home game in a row we left the Homeserve upper a few minutes early and walked down the stairs to exit the match. These are the stairs on the extreme right as you look at the pitch.
We got to the bottom and the red doors (Fire escape doors) were locked and a few hundred of us could not get out. We all had to exit through the turnstiles causing a massive jam and crushing.
These doors must be opened, or have a means of opening, in the event of an emergency.
Any inspection by a Fire Officer would close the ground down.
It needs sorting
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There is a chance they are on a maglock which would be opened in the event of the fire alarm being activated along with a green break glass for emergencies. I would have assumed they would be pushbar operated if they are final exit doors and the maglock would stop people just opening it and letting people in but I could be wrong.
I queried this earlier in the season when the same thing happened (but on the central stairways), and got this response from the club safety officer:
Thanks for your email and must apologise for the delay in releasing the locks on the gates on Saturday.
I would like to give you some background as to why these doors are “locked” to better explain the issues. Firstly the doors are held on magnets that are released by key or on activation of the Fire Alarm. Stewards are required to unlock the gates at the end of the game or to open and man them when instructed by the Safety Officer.
As part of the Counter Terrorism assessments these gates should not be opened until the end of the game unless manned, as you may understand the constant manning of these gates is not practical due to the location of them.
We also have early exit turnstiles on the two stairways at the ends of the stand, which are opened after half time.
I will review the staffing and ensure that staff have the keys for the gates available and that they are opened in sufficient time for the end of the game.
4 Likes
I’d hope and expect there would be a green break glass for manual override for the general public, especially in the case of a terrorist incident.