The club would like to apologise unreservedly to all supporters who have been inconvenienced while attending our opening home fixtures.
Following the issues experienced, and listening to feedback from our supporters, the club has carried out a full internal review of its new matchday operations. Critically we have examined in detail the reasons for queues at the turnstiles, why barriers surrounding the stadium had been closed, food and drink offerings in the new Fan Village and Food Courts, Ticket Office opening hours and accessibility as well as other issues identified.
Introducing new technologies and new systems is always a challenge. As we increased capacity at LNER Stadium we changed our entry protocol by allocating tickets in the Coop Stand to specific turnstiles. This was designed to help with ingress crowd flow and movement of supporters through the concourses to comply with safety guidelines aligned to increased capacity at LNER Stadium.
Following our investigations, it is clear that we failed to communicate this change to those affected and equally the resulting flow rates at each turnstile did not meet the demand. This resulted in issues outside the stadium which have been immediately addressed.
A summary of the changes we have implemented immediately:
- All ticket holders in the Coop Stand (Upper or Lower) will now be able to enter at ANY Coop turnstile (Upper or Lower).*
- All turnstiles will be open.
- Barriers belonging to Highways on Sincil Bank will be opened on match day to help avoid congestion.
- Additional entry points will be made available by the Safety Team should the potential for delays or queues arise.
- The Ticket Office will be open for walk ins and phone enquiries, 10am – 5pm, Monday to Friday, plus additional hours relating to peak ticket collection periods, when needed.
- The club will further invest in additional members of the Ticket Office team.
- Hot drinks will be available in the Selenity Food Court.
*Please note that your e-ticket will still display a specific turnstile number, as we have not had sufficient time to update this with our ticket partners. However, all Coop tickets will be valid at any Coop turnstile as stated above.
The Club will continue to work with our matchday workforce to support their knowledge and understanding of our new operations as they evolve. Finally, we will regularly review our matchday operations and welcome your feedback as we continue to strive to improve the matchday experience for everyone at LNER Stadium.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
