Fans reported being left waiting up to an hour after the Blues' home game at the Hill Dickinson Stadium
Queues at Sandhills on Wednesday evening (Tony Scott)
Queues at Sandhills on Wednesday evening (Tony Scott)
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Merseyrail has apologised after Everton fans were left stuck waiting at Sandhills railway station after the Blues' Carabao Cup match last night, Wednesday (September 16). A number of disgruntled Blues reported being left waiting for up to an hour to get home after attending the Hill Dickinson Stadium to watch the Toffees.
Images seen by the ECHO showed lengthy queues at the station after full-time with many fans taking to social media to ask what was going on. It is thought around 8,000 supporters moved through the station after the match last night.
The rail operator has now revealed the reason for delays to services and fans getting away from the station last night. The delays came on the same night that two Evertonian Prime Ministers – Andy Burnham and Mark Carney – held a bilateral meeting at the Blues’ waterfront home.
It has now been confirmed to the ECHO that an additional service scheduled for 10.20pm had to be pulled from use after issues emerged with an onboard train monitoring camera. As a result, the train terminated at Sandhills and was not removed for 10 minutes.
This left a large number of supporters gathered in the specific queuing lanes and on the station’s single island platform. Fans posting on social media said many were left angry by the delay with queues not moving for 30 minutes.
A Merseyrail spokesperson said: “We had an additional service post-match scheduled for 22:20, however this service was terminated at Sandhills after a fault was identified with one of the train’s door monitoring cameras. In line with our safety procedures, the train was withdrawn from service and returned to depot for assessment.
“The train involved was moved after 10 minutes, this resulted in some delays to Northern Line services while passengers were safely detrained. We apologise to customers affected, particularly those travelling home after the football, and thank them for their patience.”
How the extension could look at Sandhills (Owen Ellis Architects)
How the extension could look at Sandhills (Owen Ellis Architects)
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Expansions for Sandhills to prevent issues with fans being left queuing on the street are to go before Liverpool Council’s planning committee next week. Toilets, a new bus stop on Dunes Way and an area for food and drink kiosks would also be installed on site if the local authority gives the go-ahead.
An officer report said Merseytravel’s application seeks to “reduce any backlog from the public highway in front of the station". Under the plans, land would be repurposed to extend the existing fan management zone along the strip of land between Dunes Way and the existing station ramp to the foot bridge.
The extended queuing area would be uncovered, however, which Cllr Billy Lake described as a “glaring omission.”
According to new documentation submitted by Merseyrail, emergency access is required for police, fire and ambulance vehicles and a roof structure would restrict their movement.
This would lead to passengers having to be moved before being treated in an ambulance in the event of an emergency.
The application added how while the changes would not increase the number of services for supporters on a matchday, it would “provide a safer and substantially larger managed area in which passengers can wait for services to their destinations".