Ambulance obstructing Gate 7 exit

[EPR]

Looking on the bright side, at least it's an ambulance.

[Schards#2]

'greed.

Great planning, fence off one end and park a 20ft ambulance across the exit at the other end.

[RoyalBlue]

Potentially a far greater hazard than standing during games!

I wonder whether the driver will get banned from the stadium!

Get your priorities right Mr Booth.

[jonboy29red]

Shouldnt this have been parked round by were the ambulance normally park?

[Royal Lady]

Same thing happened at one of the last home games last season - or might have been the home PO game.

Because it juts onto the pavement it creates a bottleneck.

I do, however, have a solution - why not keep away fans in for a short time and open the safety gate? Tonight, even after having circumnavigated the ground in order to get back down the hill, there were still away fans just leaving their stand and the coaches were no where close to leaving. If, shutting the safety gate is to allow the away fans to disperse quickly, or whatever the reason is, perhaps the stewards could actually ensure that they DO leave promptly.

I'm fed up with still meeting a load of away fans coming in the opposite direction when I'm walking round the ground. If there's going to be trouble, there'll be trouble, shutting that "safety gate" will make no odds in my opinion.

And while I'm on the subject of stewards - well done in having to take 5 or 6 of you to drag one knuckle dragger away after he ran onto the pitch and well done on completely ignoring the other bloke, who was in a beige jacket, who ran onto the pitch to hug the Millwall players, managed to leg it back over the wall into the front row when the stewards approached and for at least 2 stewards to walk past him and completely ignore him. Whether he was actually apprehended later on I don't know - but from the stance taken by the stewards at the time, I doubt it.

[EPR]

There's even yellow cross-hatches painted on the area where the ambulance was parked presumably indicating that nothing, even an ambulance, should be parked there as several thousand people might just have to come out of that exit all at once.

[Row Z Royal]

Potentially a far greater hazard than standing during games!

I wonder whether the driver will get banned from the stadium!

Get your priorities right Mr Booth.

Who is Mr Booth and why does he get to decide what is and isn't illegal?

[Royal Lady]

He's the chief safety officer or something.

And while we're at it, yesterday I had a tiny bag with me which was just big enough to put my iphone and cigarettes in. I was still required to show the contents to a steward before entering the stadium. I asked him what it was exactly he was looking for and he said they are told to "be vigilant and also to look for bottles of alcohol" - I suppose he had a fair point, what with me being a lush - but I don't possess a handbag big enough for a bottle of Chardonnay anyway. I wouldn't mind so much having to open my handbag every time I go to a home game, but I do resent the fact that men never appear to be searched or patted down.

[Rex]

Your rep precedes you RL.

[Royal Lady]

Yep - I must be on their "this one is an old soak" list!!

[Rex]

Get a gangsta moll hip flask strapped to the inside thigh.

[Row Z Royal]

He's the chief safety officer or something.

So nothing to do with making laws then.

[West Stand Man]

He is the Stadium Manager.

[Rex]

Potentially a far greater hazard than standing during games!

I wonder whether the driver will get banned from the stadium!

Get your priorities right Mr Booth.

Who is Mr Booth and why does he get to decide what is and isn't illegal?

It would have been agreed and can be parked at the discretion of those who have the say in the matter.

Just for info:

Generally speaking they will respond to larger-scale incidents where there is a possibility of multiple casualties (such as road traffic collisions or building collapses) and incidents which are likely to take a long time to sort out (such as entrapments or chemical incidents).

ISU vehicles don't carry patients but are full of equipment like blankets, stretchers, oxygen bottles, spare drugs, inflatable tents or collapsible shelters and food and drink.

[Royal Lady]

I'm pretty sure there was somewhere better placed for them to park though. And it's only recently appeared as far as I am aware - I remember it one match at end of last season, where a similar bottleneck was caused.

[Rex]

I am sure the thinking is that this is the closest to the away support / exit route away from the ground should the vehicle be needed. Also as an Incident controller - there would be a specific locale for the vehicle / command point / incident controller to liaise with other emergency vehicles. Should there be such an incident then evac across the pitch would take place to the north stand and dependant on the incident area - evacuate away accordingly.

[Royal Lady]

Why can't it park where some of the Away coaches park opposite East Stand?

And what if there is a major incident in the West Stand or whatever, is there an Incident Response vehicle parked outside there too?

[Rex]

If there was a major incident between both sets of support it wouldn't be advisable to place an incident control unit right in the path of the incident.

The additional support vehicles arriving would be controlled from one point and advised to go elsewhere. Confusion could reign if an agreed point was moved until another command area was set up and control transferred. Should supporters need to fully evac the stadium then this would be in a controlled and agreed manner / direction.
The North side of the stadium is untenable due to congestion / cars / inbound emergency vehicles. The problem also exists in the south approach but no doubt contingencies are well versed.

[Royal Lady]

Well, maybe they could park this massive vehicle a bit further forward so that the back of it isn't jutting onto the pavement where we are all trying to get past, especially as it is parked directly in front of an exit from the East Stand. Also, if, just before the final whistle, there hasn't been a major incident requiring its services, perhaps they could move it.

[EPR]

If they need an ISV in that corner of the stadium then around where the TV trucks normally park would make more sense.

I wonder however if it's a secondary backup location for when there are numerous away support coaches and police vehicles round where the ambulance normally parks (although I recall that being a normal ambulance rather than a 200ft long ISV).