Southern Rail strike: Brighton & Hove Albion chief demands government step in 'before someone gets hurt'

A Football club CEO has weighted in on Southern Rail crisis
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Saphora Smith23 November 2016

A football club CEO has called on the Government to intervene in the ongoing Southern Railway dispute before someone gets seriously hurt “or worse.”

Brighton & Hove Albion chief executive Paul Barber said safety was being “severely compromised” due to a lack of communication across the network.

Thousands of Albion and Aston Villa supporters were left stranded on Friday night when Southern Rail cancelled services from Falmer station without warning shortly before the final whistle of the Championship game, giving the club “little chance” to put a contingency plan in place.

There were reports of some away fans having to sleep rough at Brighton station and children being forced to walk home the six miles from Falmer to Lewes.

Mr Barber described the situation as "totally unacceptable", adding: "We had no communication, no warning, and therefore no ability to put our contingencies in place.

"Once again Southern have let us down, let down our supporters and the supporters of another club, and left the club's operations team to pick up the pieces.

"There's no accountability, there's no responsibility and there doesn't seem to be any pride in providing a service to the public. Like so many, who rely on the rail network for their livelihoods, our fans have had enough.

"We have one of the best travel plans of any football club in the country. It was a condition of the stadium being built that we put in a sustainable travel plan, which means using trains, buses and fewer cars.

"Where are the politicians and the government now? Where's the accountability to bring this organisation to account for the poor service to thousands of people in this city, week in week out?

"It's not just about 30,000 people coming to a football match, this dispute is having a devastating effect on people's lives.

"The reputation of Brighton & Hove is being severely damaged every week and it's time the politicians got more involved, started taking responsibility and represent their electorate.

"More importantly than the economic effects, there is an increasing risk that someone will get seriously hurt or worse."

A Southern spokesman said: "We apologise to Brighton & Hove Albion fans who were considerably inconvenienced on Friday night while waiting for trains home after the match from Falmer station.

"Unfortunately, we were unable to provide our usual additional service for home games due to a temporary shortage of train crew.

"We worked through the evening to try to provide cover for these trains, but we were unable to on this occasion."

Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary Mick Cash has called for an inquiry, saying: "The dangerous chaos at Falmer after the game was entirely down to the sheer managerial incompetence of Southern Rail.

Additional reporting by Press Association

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