Nice Beevor

Apparently not according to the bloke who sits at side of me. He came that way for a change and didn't know it had been closed.

 

No it wasn’t open. And yes I do have mobility issues.

 

I emailed yesterday and this is the reply I received from Beth:

Good Morning

Following the inquest into the Manchester Arena bombing it was brought into legislation that each stadium must declare a designated emergency vehicle RVP and access road. That’s not to say emergency vehicles will be on the access road at each event. It’s a designated access road in case of emergency.

In July 2021 Barnsley Council and the respective emergency services declared Beevor Court their RVP and Barnsley Football Club were instructed it must close to all vehicles and pedestrians from 90 minutes before kick-off and remain closed until the footprint is clear following the final whistle.

We did challenge this at the time and have challenged it since. We were told in no uncertain terms that if we did not comply, we would not be granted a safety certificate and no fans would be allowed to attend Oakwell stadium, at all.

For the majority of last season it seems that despite these instructions, the stewards on duty were stopping vehicles using Beevor Court but were allowing pedestrians through. This has been brought to the attention of the relevant parties and again we have been threatened with the loss of our safety certificate if we do not close the road entirely to vehicles and pedestrians.

I fully appreciate this will cause inconvenience to our supporters but ultimately if we don’t do it, we close. Quite bluntly, we comply with our instructions to close Beevor Court or we don’t play football.

We hold traffic in the south stand car park for 10 minutes following the final whistle to allow pedestrians to safely walk through to Pontefract Road.

We have available car parking, including disabled bays, in our south stand car park for supporters who cannot walk long distances so benefit from parking onsite.

I thank you for your continued support and please be assured we will continue to voice our concerns regarding this matter on behalf of our supporters.

Kind regards

 

With a thread title like that I thought @Stephen Dawson had hacked your account.

 

But that's what the club would say, isn't it? We all know that Khaled, despite being massively incompetent, has hoodwinked the council into declaring Beevor Court a RVP just to annoy our fans into accepting a stadium move, even though this would leave the council with ownership of half a stadium with no tennant. The incompetent devious *******!

 

They did hold the cars in yesterday as Beth was there at ponty rd end of the car park but this hasn't happened for at the last two home games at least, it shouldn't take Beth to be there for this to be sorted.

 

2 points -

Are there enough parking bays for drivers with a disability?

Not all supporters with a disability arrive by car - there will be supporters who can only walk short distances and the club should do all they can to ensure those supporters can get to the Ground by the shortest route.

 

I have emailed her back to clarify some issues including just when the gates should be closed at the bottom of the Ponte as they were certainly open just before full time with cars moving around the car park. If this is going to be the exit route for pedestrians I would expect all cars to be stationary and not even moving to queue up to exit let alone actually leaving at the same time. It is a disaster waiting to happen especially at night games.

 

Fair.

 

I wouldn’t email just to ask this on its own, her time is worth more, but if you continue to correspond with her around wider concerns as you have been, maybe ask what prompted the club to fix the fence that has given alternative access to Ponty rd, using only the very end of Beevor court, for probably two decades or more. Speedy emergency vehicular access to the back gate on Beevor court wouldn’t be affected much if at all by folk using that route, the road all way up remains clear. So it seems unlikely to contravene legal requirements there - which leads to wonder if it’s due to it being a bit slippy sometimes there and they are concerned about repercussions and their legal responsibility. Has wet grass got more dangerous all of a sudden? It’s hardly a new thing.

I’m a big fan of Beth, a big asset to the club - and her email gives fair facts about the situation re exiting via the Beevor Court gate. It is bloody ridiculous - but still. Not really the club’s fault and certainly not hers.

I would love to know the motivation behind mending a steel fence that has had a gap in it giving access in and out for pretty much as long as I can recall though. Folk have been going in and out that way for twenty odd years. Why did it need fixing at the same time red tape dictates you can’t walk up the road to the back of the east stand? Have the council and emergency services dictated that too?

I too have concerns walking down the south stand car park, even when they aren’t allowing cars out there are plenty moving around to try and get to what is perceived to be an easier/quicker exit.

Now it’s still light (ish) at 5pm it wasn’t so bad Saturday, but previously, and for night games, it’s a disaster waiting to happen. I posted this at the time but a bloke walking near me and my lad was nearly hit by a car squeezing out through a gap that wasn’t there just near popeyes burger van a few games back. Cars were freely leaving as we were walking out, we left right at the final whistle, no delay. Cars weren’t held.

I’ve got a bit of a mobility issue, permanent serious damage to my knee in a car accident 18 years ago. I also seem to be getting worse and so I suspect I’m getting arthritis in it too; I was warned I’d to expect it by 40 due to the number of surgeries I’ve had and how it was bound to wear quicker due to my soft tissue loss; I turn 40 this year. I don’t blame the club for that obviously - and when it was an option years ago I had a season pass for the east stand car park and went in and out via Beevor court. It was quite dear but was a really good option. One not available anymore.

I have tried to use the south stand car park but even limping in pain a few hundred yards up ponty rd to get to the car is preferable to the agony of trying to get out of there after a game… in all seriousness there are times I have to be back in donny before 6pm to get my other kid(s) on Saturdays, and back home after midweek games at a reasonable time for the kids to get to bed for school, (especially if the younger one comes) - it just isn’t viable to use it. Unless it has markedly improved, getting out of there is a living nightmare.

I’m sure there are others with broadly similar issues to me, I don’t want to make this a whinge just to benefit myself. I might try the car park for an upcoming fixture to see if it works for us, but if getting out is still prohibitive I’ll still be left walking several hundred seemingly unnecessary additional yards to get into and out of the ground.

It may not be a deliberate act on the club’s part, I accept that; but it has to be said that with one thing and another it is getting increasingly laborious to get to the ground. They are doing bits and pieces to try and attract people back - fan zones, catering offers, outside caterers and musicians ( which we didn’t see…) etc. I don’t know what if anything they can do, but making it less frustrating just to access the site by any transport mode would be a good idea. All the things to increase the fan experience once there are great, but plenty won’t bother if it remains a pain in the arse to get there.

 

I don't know the hole in the fence you are on about, but what makes you think it's the club that's mended it?

 

Just wait till "they" find a way to close the access from the Monk Bretton footpaths to the ground by putting a big metal fence across the gap.
On Saturday I used the public footpath from Pontefract Rd opposite the Lighting Centre (more or less) which goes round the back of the old brewery site then up the pretty slopes to the ground.
It was ok, not stressful, but in the dark or muddy conditions it wouldn't be very nice.

 

Ask the council or the emergency services, these are public bodies, you could even FOI them for their reasoning.

 

In the wet that way isn’t very practical but yeah I’ve used it for early and late season games in the past.

 

I think we should get North Korea to tunnel under Beevor Court for us. Problem solved.

 

Really don’t see the issue removing part of the fence that covers the pavement so pedestrians can walk through. It’s not rocket science.

 

If as you say you cannot leave the east stand car park via Beevor Court, then why do I see cars queuing up to go that way after the match?