Safety response from OCC

bazzer9461

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Received this email from the OUFC safety advisory group chairman and lead officer for safety of sports ground for Oxfordshire county Council

I wanted to reply to you directly to thank you for taking the time to give me an account of your experience on the night of the EFL Cup fixture with Manchester City FC. Oxfordshire County Council takes public safety at sports grounds very seriously as does Oxford United Football Club whom have been transparent in this process so far.

The review of events of the evening of 25th September started immediately to establish the facts and is now at a stage where experiences of the supporters with relevant information is being considered so that nothing is missed. I wish to assure you your comments will be discussed as part of this review.

This review whilst it will find true causation and will identify any individual(s) or team fault, will not be used to publicly direct fault at any individual(s) but instead will be used as a tool to allow and ensure a greater public safety for all at the Kassam Stadium. That said I am not in a position to discuss any action Oxford United Football club might wish to take internally.

Once all lines of enquiry have been completed and all available information gathered an additional Safety Advisory Group meeting will be called where the events of the evening will be fully discussed along with the measures put in place to ensure incidents such as this do not happen again. This meeting is due to take place in the next two weeks. The Safety Advisory Group meetings have invited representation of the supporter’s trust to ensure the supporter’s and the wider community views are taken in to account.

One immediate measure has been taken to permanently relocate parking for the away team coach removing the risk of any repeat of the crowd congestion caused by the positioning of the Manchester City Team Coach. Team coaches will drop off the players as normal to the front of the stadium and then be parked in the loading bay area adjacent to the South Stand and between the East and South Stands and at no point relocated to the front or allowed to move. Players following the end of the match will exit the stadium on foot through the loading bay and board the team coaches in this location. Coaches will be permanently stewarded to prevent any unauthorised movements.

This information along with any new measures put in to place following this review will be updated to supporters by Oxford United Football Club in due course.

Thank you again for the valuable comments.

Yours sincerely

Richard Rockall
OUFC Safety Advisory Group Chairperson
and Lead Officer for Safety of Sports Ground for Oxfordshire County Council
 
Received this email from the OUFC safety advisory group chairman and lead officer for safety of sports ground for Oxfordshire county Council

I wanted to reply to you directly to thank you for taking the time to give me an account of your experience on the night of the EFL Cup fixture with Manchester City FC. Oxfordshire County Council takes public safety at sports grounds very seriously as does Oxford United Football Club whom have been transparent in this process so far.

The review of events of the evening of 25th September started immediately to establish the facts and is now at a stage where experiences of the supporters with relevant information is being considered so that nothing is missed. I wish to assure you your comments will be discussed as part of this review.

This review whilst it will find true causation and will identify any individual(s) or team fault, will not be used to publicly direct fault at any individual(s) but instead will be used as a tool to allow and ensure a greater public safety for all at the Kassam Stadium. That said I am not in a position to discuss any action Oxford United Football club might wish to take internally.

Once all lines of enquiry have been completed and all available information gathered an additional Safety Advisory Group meeting will be called where the events of the evening will be fully discussed along with the measures put in place to ensure incidents such as this do not happen again. This meeting is due to take place in the next two weeks. The Safety Advisory Group meetings have invited representation of the supporter’s trust to ensure the supporter’s and the wider community views are taken in to account.

One immediate measure has been taken to permanently relocate parking for the away team coach removing the risk of any repeat of the crowd congestion caused by the positioning of the Manchester City Team Coach. Team coaches will drop off the players as normal to the front of the stadium and then be parked in the loading bay area adjacent to the South Stand and between the East and South Stands and at no point relocated to the front or allowed to move. Players following the end of the match will exit the stadium on foot through the loading bay and board the team coaches in this location. Coaches will be permanently stewarded to prevent any unauthorised movements.

This information along with any new measures put in to place following this review will be updated to supporters by Oxford United Football Club in due course.

Thank you again for the valuable comments.

Yours sincerely

Richard Rockall
OUFC Safety Advisory Group Chairperson
and Lead Officer for Safety of Sports Ground for Oxfordshire County Council


mine has arrived, its the same as above..... believe it arrived late yesterday, first chance I had to properly check my emails was at 11.45am today

reading between the lines, it seems the debacle post man city game was caused, at least in part, by OUFC matchday staff and/or subcontracted persons bought in to boost numbers (of stewards etc) for the visit of the pemier league prima donnas ?

good to see that Oxvox will officially have input into the Safety Advisory Group meetings regarding home games at the Breeze Block
 
It still rankles with me that barriers were placed around the coach and it seems the safety officer was unaware this was happening. The fact is that dozens of heavy barriers didn't just surround the coach by chance and there was planning involved in getting them there. There was also the response of the stewards on the ground who said they had been told to hold them in place - who told them to do that?
 
The recommendations highlight why the club is in arbitration with Kassam. A CCTV was obscured and as company that runs the Ground, it should be the responsibility of them to ensure all is working ok?
 
Lots of words and action points with diddly accountability. No surprise there then.
 
You can’t help feeling that these premier league clubs think they can do what they want sometimes. Pure arrogance!
 
You can’t help feeling that these premier league clubs think they can do what they want sometimes. Pure arrogance!
indeed ...that appears to be the root cause of the issues post match, sheer arrogance on the part of billy big bollox driving 'city's oversized team coach:confused::confused::confused:
 
Lots of words and action points with diddly accountability. No surprise there then.

Not so sure about that, I think the statement blames the whole thing on Man City, in the nicest possible way. If the bus wasn't parked there, the whole situation never would have happened. That said, the structure WHEN something happened was also found wanting, so it is good that that has also been addressed. We would have been none the wiser about the CCTV camera being blocked, for example.
 
This is probably why the Liverpool fans tried to redirect them during that champions league encounter ???
 
Think we need to be careful. City crew doing what they did was wrong but doubt they did it to deliberately endanger fans. There should have been police or safety there to either move them or manage the situation that developed. Nobody covered themselves in glory that night.
 
I saw 5 yellow coated stewards who put the barricades in place and just walk away even though the crowd going past the Man City coach were immense, they didn’t give a s**t
 
But isn’t it tradition or habit that the away coach pulls up outside reception / ticket office before and after the game ? For the majority of games in a season there’s no issue as it allows fans to connect with players.

However when big clubs or rival teams come to the ground then a different plan is needed for our few moron fans that decide a bit of confrontation is warranted.
 
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