What happened on Oakwell Lane after the game? Black BMW in the middle of the road and 2 blokes shouting at each other and another bloke stood there rubbing his leg and then some lad jumping in just looking for a scrap. Looked like it was going to get a bit nasty.
Didn’t see that on Saturday but regularly see cars having a standoff. When it happens as we are walking down to the game, I’m often surprised they aren’t still there at full time. The road definitely needs closing to people other than residents on match days. Maybe it needs bringing up at the next meeting before someone gets hurts?
Whilst I understand the situation. Cars have a right of way on the highway. Double yellow lines can be used with disabled badges for 3hrs. Unless other restrictions. ? A one way system. should be a consideration on that rd imo. A busy rd as a shortcut. As for match days I suppose road blocks like grove st etc should be enforced. Or barriers placed half hr before to half hr after a game on entrance sides of the lane. It's really not rocket science.
It really is a accident waiting to happen they close all the roads in and around Oakwell for safety reasons and leave the most narrow and busy open makes no sense.
One problem is folk who go to match thinking they have the right to walk down middle of the road. I understand straight after kick off when people leave on mass, but i leave 5-10 mins early as i need to get home for work and people still do it then. With the restrictions the club has put in place with the car park, more and more are using road parking or getting picked up and dropped off. Some are not able to park an in the town and walk to the ground like the club are wanting you to do.
Disabled badge would be different, but these cars don't. The council will be well aware of them so I am surprised they don't get someone to turn up and put a ticket on them all. Shutting them to pedestrians isn't the answer. Going to Oakwell is already enough of a ball ache for many for parking or getting out of the car park. Telling hundreds of fans who want to go in the direction of East Dene or further afield like Outpost that they cannot walk down Oakwell Lane isn't the answer.
Sorry to be a pain Paul . There is only one person that as a right of way on the kings highway. Drivers don't have the right of way .
Should have made it clearer. I meant barriers closing the lane to through traffic not pedestrians and residents.
Footpaths which aren't wide enough to cope with an Oakwell crowd dispersal, and which are frequently blocked by ignorant parkers. I've been using Oakwell Lane and crossing Ponty Road on foot to access the ground for over 30 years and seen many incidents that could have resulted in a serious injury or even a fatality. In my opinion the bulk of the blame at the scene lies with impatient, bullish drivers some of whom are quite happy to rev up and use their car as a battering ram. But looking beyond that, we have a Council that must be fully aware of this problem yet chooses to ignore it - I say chooses because they have it in their power to close this road to vehicles for a brief period, as they frequently do across the borough in higher profile situations (bike races, for instance).
Saw some bloke on his phone stood directly in front of a car - think it was the BMW you mentioned - and wondered what on earth was going on
I emailed the council about this about a year ago after club pointed me in their direction. I've banged on about this for ages - it's an accident waiting to happen especially this time of year. I heard nothing back obviously.
Hence my resolutions. Or the like that should be put in place. My quote re the footpath was in content of normal conditions. I used Oakwell lane for many a year. But prior to the new house builds a few years ago. And agree summat needs doing.
It should be no parking on matchdays, closed to traffic going downhill after matches and then there's plenty of room for cars using it as an exit route and for pedestrians to safely walk up it too
Apparantly the head of Highways at Barnsley council is a Matt Bell. Based in the greater sheffield area. I like to go straight to the organ Grinder but can't locate an email address. If more people comment on the issue maybe a response would be more forthcoming. If anyone knows it. Post it.