When a safety issue is in front of you and you know about it, the worst thing you can do is ignore it! You have to report it! Don’t take this the wrong way but the club may not know about it. Reporting it does us all a favour!
Last edited by Exiletyke; 24-09-2018 at 06:36 AM.
Spoke to the lady on reception as the SO was not available and she said she would pass on my concern when he arrived back later this afternoon .
The reason Exit Gate 6 was pad locked is because it is a designated unmanned gate , meaning no steward is in attendance at that gate , although I've yet to see this gate not manned as its the main exit gate for everyone coming out of the west stand lower , around 1500 fans I would hazard a guess at , Exit Gate 7 would be used for the upper west stand occupants and I can't say whether that is locked or manned because I never need to use it .
The reason it's pad locked I gather is because some of our more enterprising fans open the gate inside Oakwell and let their mates in FOC .
Well I said it was a ad hoc situation I'll admit but that's rather my point isn't it , an usual set of circumstances arose and nobody was around to open the gate with a key even though two stewards were standing at the side of Exit Gate 6 .
She said I have a point and agreed it was an issue and as I say she will pass on my concerns to the SO in due course .
Well done Anyway Animal, you have done your best , and brought the matter up and it's down to the Club and SO to act now , Thanks
Just had the dogs out for an hour and chewed the fat with this as you do to occupy yourself when two hounds are in their own world sniffing other dogs shyte , anyway back to the point .
I once got a b@llocking of an HS guy at work for doing something or other a few years ago and I said
" kin hell leave off one in a million chance "
And he said something that's never left me because he was absolutely spot on .
" I feckin aint interested in the million my job is to concentrate and prevent the one " .
The one in question happened 33 years ago at Valley Parade , many people would have escaped that day , not all of them but a significant number if the bloody exit gates weren't locked , they were trapped , couldn't get out and sadly perished .
It's an unlikely event it would happen at Oakwell , but it could , especially with a stand as old as that and containing many elderly people , the reason many elderly folk sit in the west stand is because they aren't so clever on their feet as they once were and it's easier to access for them than the east stand , shorter distance and less steps to climb , it has different scenarios going on here than the rest of the ground , the risk is higher in my opinion .
If something like a fire occurred it's reasonable to expect most fans would escape by going on to the pitch from the lower tier , which is fine .
But what about one starting at half time when the back of the west stand is chocker with people going to the bog or grabbing a burger , the sheer number of people would make it more difficult to escape on to the pitch if Exit Gate 6 is locked , there would be panic and it could be difficult to see from smoke perhaps .
I take the point the west stand could have some form of preventive fireproof substance going on but I don't know in reality .
As we were stood waiting for Exit Gate 6 to be opened and the steward was stood there doing the " not my job guv " bit , nobody seemed to be communicating .
I don't know if the stewards all have walkie talkies , to tell the truth I haven't taken much notice over the years , if they have then that particular steward wasn't using it , the keyman seemed to turn up hmmm when he suddenly remembered or saw the gate was still locked .
Why on earth aren't all the exit gates manned and therefore you take the risk right out of the potential issue ? , it's not fecking wembley stadium ffs .
1500 people and a locked exit gate at a football ground doesn't sit right with me , in fact it's never right .
" my job is to concentrate on the one not the million "
Dam right .
Last edited by animallittle3; 24-09-2018 at 04:04 PM.