Match day traffic WTF

Went to my first home game of the season today .... having invested in a season ticket. Question for the regulars .... is the match day traffic always as bad as it was today. I live about 50 miles away in the Cotswolds and left home at 1pm sharp thinking I would have loads of time. Suffice to say I was still queuing nose-to-tail on the M5 Junction 1 roundabout at 3.30pm. F*** knows what was going on there .... but it was gridlock 30 minutes after the match started. By the time I has parked the car, walked to the ground and found my seat ..... the 2nd half was about to start. Better on the way home .... as loads of people left 10 mins before the end ..... no doubt to avoid the traffic.

Any tips and advice from the regular match goers ....... other than start out one or two hours earlier.

Avoid the M5 J1 roundabout like the plague. I missed the start of the Sheffield United match thanks to be queuing for over an hour on the M5. If you must use Junction 1 then you need to be there before 1pm. We usually go via Birmingham City Centre and have a curry before the game and park just off the Birmingham Road on the Handsworth side. Today though, I almost missed the start as I foolishly went via the Scott Arms and Forge Lane; gridlock!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kettering_baggie

Avoid the M5 J1 roundabout like the plague. I missed the start of the Sheffield United match thanks to be queuing for over an hour on the M5. If you must use Junction 1 then you need to be there before 1pm. We usually go via Birmingham City Centre and have a curry before the game and park just off the Birmingham Road on the Handsworth side. Today though, I almost missed the start as I foolishly went via the Scott Arms and Forge Lane; gridlock!

---

M5 coming from the M6 is ok but up the M5 or via M42 forget it, I park by the vine usually and it’s straight onto the M5 North usually very quick.

Get off j2 and come through oldbury n smethwick

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DaveP67 is back!

M5 coming from the M6 is ok but up the M5 or via M42 forget it, I park by the vine usually and it’s straight onto the M5 North usually very quick.

---

M5 from the M6 is definitely not ok on evening matches and after 1pm on Saturdays.

First mistake......giving yourself only two hours from The Cotswolds these days mate .
I live in Chaddesley Corbett just 18 miles from the ground and I leave at no later than 1.30pm for a 3.00pm kick off.

Get off the M5 at junction 3 ( not 2, still too many potential problems at number 2 )

Off at 3 and drop into Quinton and take the back way into Smethwick High Street PST The Red Cow pub.

Turn right at the first set of lights with the cop station on your left as you turn into that next road.

Make your way to Middlemore Rd ( postcode B21 0AL ) and you’ll find loads of free parking in the road and in front of the industrial units.

Started parking there with my day in 1972 and it’s still the best place I’ve ever used for getting to and for getting away afterwards.

It’s about a 10-15 minute walk to the ground and you avoid all the traffic and the idiots.

Don’t take my spot in front of Johnstone’s Paints 😏

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kettering_baggie

M5 from the M6 is definitely not ok on evening matches and after 1pm on Saturdays.

---

Usually in the Vine for 12 😃

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mickd1961

First mistake......giving yourself only two hours from The Cotswolds these days mate .
I live in Chaddesley Corbett just 18 miles from the ground and I leave at no later than 1.30pm for a 3.00pm kick off.

Get off the M5 at junction 3 ( not 2, still too many potential problems at number 2 )

Off at 3 and drop into Quinton and take the back way into Smethwick High Street PST The Red Cow pub.

Turn right at the first set of lights with the cop station on your left as you turn into that next road.

Make your way to Middlemore Rd ( postcode B21 0AL ) and you’ll find loads of free parking in the road and in front of the industrial units.

Started parking there with my day in 1972 and it’s still the best place I’ve ever used for getting to and for getting away afterwards.

It’s about a 10-15 minute walk to the ground and you avoid all the traffic and the idiots.

Don’t take my spot in front of Johnstone’s Paints 😏

---

Is Johnstone’s paints still there we used to park there in the late 70s when we lived in Bearwood

Thanks - will take your advice next time. Never seen gridlock like today at M5 Jct 1 .....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mickd1961

First mistake......giving yourself only two hours from The Cotswolds these days mate .
I live in Chaddesley Corbett just 18 miles from the ground and I leave at no later than 1.30pm for a 3.00pm kick off.

Get off the M5 at junction 3 ( not 2, still too many potential problems at number 2 )

Off at 3 and drop into Quinton and take the back way into Smethwick High Street PST The Red Cow pub.

Turn right at the first set of lights with the cop station on your left as you turn into that next road.

Make your way to Middlemore Rd ( postcode B21 0AL ) and you’ll find loads of free parking in the road and in front of the industrial units.

Started parking there with my day in 1972 and it’s still the best place I’ve ever used for getting to and for getting away afterwards.

It’s about a 10-15 minute walk to the ground and you avoid all the traffic and the idiots.

Don’t take my spot in front of Johnstone’s Paints ��

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Barrera

Thanks - will take your advice next time. Never seen gridlock like today at M5 Jct 1 .....

---

I can honestly say I've almost never had problem in 42 years of driving myself to the ground this way.

Buy dad was a rep and he covered that patch and if it wasn't for him I'd never have learned that route.

If you come off at junction 3 and then turn left about 500 yards after Quinton shopping centre on the left and go the back way into Smethwick past the Red Cow it's a doddle.

As you turn into Middlemore Rd Johnstone's Paints is the first unit on your right and I always park infant of their shutters to get away quickly but their car park is free just to the side of their unit if you prefer that.

Always best to be there by 45 minutes before kick off though.