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The (actual) journey to and from Wembley


DCFC Ram

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Did anyone travelling to/from Wembley on the day from the East or West Midlands have anything like a decent journey?

I went via Lichfield Trent Valley. I parked in the overspill carpark down the road from the station. The train was empty when it arrived at LTV  but rammed when it left. It stopped at Tamworth but was so full that people were left on the platform. I got the underground to Wembley Central quite easily. The train was rammed right through to Euston.

After the game the exit from Wembley stadium to Wembley Central was easy. The tube was busy but ok. Euston was poor.

The platform wasn't shown until a minute of two before the train was due to depart. Hundreds of people ran to get on the train as people were getting off.  This was past regular commuters; old people and people with very small kids. The journey back was as awful as the journey down. By Tamworth it finally became bearable.

The small carpark at LTV was completely jammed with cars. At a guess I'd say that it would have taken more than an hour for any car to get out. We walked to the overspill and got straight onto the A38 in minutes.

The limitation on tickets to one train operator didn't help. (although at Euston I did hear of people being told to use trains run by different operators.)

I also stood next to a member of staff at Euston who was on his headset to  the controller telling them to announce the platform - to no success. It was a dangerous shambles.

Looking at the photos, St Pancras looked even worse.

I hope that no-one got injured as a result of the train travel problems today.  I'll not be doing this travel plan again.

 

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Good journey - better than we could have expected. Drove from Cannock down M1 and even in the roadworks sections kept to a steady 50mph. Parking on someone's drive in Stanmore had been pre- booked but because of previous traffic problems we decided to leave the M1 at J5 instead of J4. Very little traffic getting into Stanmore so same route on return trip - home by 8pm.

Just the match which didn't go to plan but roll on next season.

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St Pancras on the way back was a nightmare. I've never seen queues like it, and I wasn't even trying to catch a Derby train!

Ended up going Kings Cross - Grantham, then catching a train home from there.

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5 minutes ago, reveldevil said:

St Pancras on the way back was a nightmare. I've never seen queues like it, and I wasn't even trying to catch a Derby train!

Ended up going Kings Cross - Grantham, then catching a train home from there.

What was the issue at St Pancras? Was it queues upstairs in front of the boards which say which platform? 

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Fantastic journey to and from the stadium, learned a few lessons in the past two play off finals, set off from Derby at 9.45 and was parked up outside the stadium in the yellow car park for 12.15, I used my dads blue badge so got a decent spot, near the entrance and turns out next to the exit, at the final whistle decided to depart the stadium, we were on the  lower level sat right next to the exit to the concourse which in turn was dead across from the main exit / entrance in to the ground, which was at the top of the steps from Wembley way, at the bottom of Wembley way there was a co op or Tesco, I recognised it from the car park earlier, went down the side of there which was directly next where I had parked the car, I reckon we were first ones out the car park, straight onto the M1 and we were back home at 6.55 a total journey time of one hour and 55 minutes !

I kid you not ! Wembley seat to front room in Alvaston !

All in the planning !

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I came down from Manchester with my daughter. Train was OK. Full of Villa fans from Piccadilly and Stockport! 

Got the Overground early doors, not busy at all and got to Wembley for 1. 

Then left the stadium a good 15 mins after the whistle, the usual slow walk down to Wembley Park this time. A 3 min wait for the tube back to Euston Square, and jumped on the 1817 back to Manchester with no issues. 

The worst part was having Villa fans on the bus back to Oldham with me... 

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33 minutes ago, ketteringram said:

What was the issue at St Pancras? Was it queues upstairs in front of the boards which say which platform? 

Yes, snaking all the way around the top part, then down the stairs furthest away from the platforms themselves.

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Drove, left at 7 got to Stanmore at 9, parked in pre payed spot at NCP by station, straight on the underground to Covent Garden.

Way back was a doddle too, slow down Wembley way to Wembley Central, straight on half empty train to Stanmore, queued 20min to get out, back home by 8pm.

To think I nearly changed to the train, I forget how quick you can get to London by car, it’s actually quicker than the train if you factor in getting to the station and waiting for your train etc.

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47 minutes ago, EranioIsGod said:

I came down from Manchester with my daughter. Train was OK. Full of Villa fans from Piccadilly and Stockport! 

Got the Overground early doors, not busy at all and got to Wembley for 1. 

Then left the stadium a good 15 mins after the whistle, the usual slow walk down to Wembley Park this time. A 3 min wait for the tube back to Euston Square, and jumped on the 1817 back to Manchester with no issues. 

The worst part was having Villa fans on the bus back to Oldham with me... 

The mass of people waiting at Euston seemed to be for the first train to Crewe that stopped at Tamworth and Lichfield. The other trains out of Euston didn't seem to be busy.

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St Pancras was a absolute disgrace a complete  unorganized shambles by the transport police and East Midlands trains someone could have got seriously injured , some children had to be passed over the barriers at the front due to the shear volume of people herded like cattle into a area infront of the ticket barriers,not once from Derby to Wembley central and back did we have to show our train tickets the barriers were all open so anyone could travel without tickets , typical train operators not interested in security or passenger safety how the hell do they get away with selling so many more tickets than there are spaces available.They expect fans to behave in a civilised way but still put them in situations that shouldn't be happening in this day and age.

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Left at 9, parked 0.6m from the stadium on the Villa side. Only hit real traffic around Wembley. Broke free and got a steady drive up the M1. M1 J22-23 closed by an accident involving a lorry. Got off at 21A and joined back on at 23 right next to the accident. 

Home at 9.30 but partly because KFC needed me to help them get rid of some Chicken. 

QPR game was a nightmare. Car park next to the ground costs £30. But you do get to spend 2 hours in it after the game. 

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Really easy. Train at 5 to 6 from Derby was basically completely empty, into St Pancras for 10 past 8, straight into Spoons. Covent Garden by half 9. First train out of there at 5 to 6 in the evening, managed to get a seat. Back in Derby at half 7.

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2 hours ago, DCFC Ram said:

Did anyone travelling to/from Wembley on the day from the East or West Midlands have anything like a decent journey?

I went via Lichfield Trent Valley. I parked in the overspill carpark down the road from the station. The train was empty when it arrived at LTV  but rammed when it left. It stopped at Tamworth but was so full that people were left on the platform. I got the underground to Wembley Central quite easily. The train was rammed right through to Euston.

After the game the exit from Wembley stadium to Wembley Central was easy. The tube was busy but ok. Euston was poor.

The platform wasn't shown until a minute of two before the train was due to depart. Hundreds of people ran to get on the train as people were getting off.  This was past regular commuters; old people and people with very small kids. The journey back was as awful as the journey down. By Tamworth it finally became bearable.

The small carpark at LTV was completely jammed with cars. At a guess I'd say that it would have taken more than an hour for any car to get out. We walked to the overspill and got straight onto the A38 in minutes.

The limitation on tickets to one train operator didn't help. (although at Euston I did hear of people being told to use trains run by different operators.)

I also stood next to a member of staff at Euston who was on his headset to  the controller telling them to announce the platform - to no success. It was a dangerous shambles.

Looking at the photos, St Pancras looked even worse.

I hope that no-one got injured as a result of the train travel problems today.  I'll not be doing this travel plan again.

 

We got the 7:53 from Lichfield, platform was busy but not manic.  But the problems started when it was announced that the train only had FOUR carriages!!!  How could they not have the foresight to put on much?!?!?!?  We were pretty hemmed in, but wasn't anywhere nearly as bad as on the way back.  Was gonna get the 20:02 from Euston, but as you saw, they only announced the platform as the train pulled in (I'm assuming to allow passengers to get off safely) and a poo-tonne of Villa fans sprinted for it.  Therefore decided to get the 20:27, but it was the exact same problem.  It was unbelievably rammed, dangerously so.  Due to delays in heading out and taking forever to get into Milton Keynes we were 30 minutes late arriving into Lichfield!!  

Said half way home that if the train were to crash, it would be a welcome release from the misery, and I stand by that comment...

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Coach on the way down was absolutely fine - cracking atmosphere at Newport Pagnell services. Got to the ground by about 12:30

Going home was the killer - sounds like the train was just as bad as the coach.

We were back at the coach by 5:30 (yellow car park) - took an hour before we even moved. Then took another hour to get through the traffic between Wembley and the M1.

Arrived at Newport Pagnell about 9ish I think. Saw Christine Lampard being mobbed outside the NP Services Waitrose (by women demanding selfies I should add...)

Then back on the coach hoping to be home by 10 - only to find that a lorry had jack-knifed between J22 and J23, so the motorway was closed in both directions. Consequently the whole weight of the M1 had to crawl down country lanes - and that took another extra hour.

Finally arrived home at about 11:20.

Next time I think the best bet is definitely to drive to the outskirts and get the tube/overground in. Everyone I know who did that was home by 8pm

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