Police silence on Leeds United situation as Northern are slammed for 'complete waffle' Preston response — YEP 5/12/24

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By Graham Smyth

British Transport Police are yet to comment on a situation that saw Leeds United fans held at Blackburn train station or confirm if any arrests were made amid assault allegations.

The YEP has made five requests for a statement from British Transport Police following Saturday's game at Blackburn Rovers. Hundreds of Whites supporters were prevented from accessing the platforms at Blackburn station after the match as they attempted to make their way back to Leeds on delayed Northern Railway services. A police cordon was put in place and some fans waited for almost 90 minutes with many later complaining of a lack of information. Beyond the delays there were complaints of overcrowding on trains to and from Blackburn.

A statement from Northern apologised for the delays, which were caused by a track circuit failure at Darwen. A spokesperson also revealed that a Northern employee was the subject of verbal and physical assaults and prevented from providing service updates.

"Assaults of any kind on our staff are totally unacceptable and we would urge anyone with any information about this incident on Saturday to contact the police," said the spokesperson.

But British Transport Police have not yet confirmed if any arrests were made or explained the decision to hold Leeds fans in a situation some have described as 'shambolic' and a 'nightmare.' Despite Northern intimating to the YEP that the decision would have been a police one, a press officer for British Transport Police has suggested that station management questions should be put to the station owner. Blackburn station is owned by Network Rail and operated by Northern.

In the meantime the YEP has contacted Northern to ask what plans have been put in place to prevent problems experienced last weekend, such as overcrowding, when Leeds travel to Preston North End for an early kick-off on Saturday December 14. Northern has not yet made comment.

A Leeds supporter, who has asked to remain anonymous, made his concerns about a repeat scenario for the Preston game known to Northern and in an email seen by the YEP was told: "First and foremost, I would like to apologise for the overcrowding conditions you experienced when travelling with us and the frustration this may have caused. We do acknowledge that our services can get very busy at times, leading to uncomfortable overcrowding for our customers. Currently, all of our available rolling stock is in use network-wide, making it challenging to add extra carriages or run more services.

"As we do not offer seat reservations, and many tickets are flexible, predicting passenger numbers for specific services is difficult. However, we monitor passenger flows to help allocate our available resources effectively.

"We are aware of sporting events that take place in advance and we will always try and allocate extra carriages where they become available. As we are expecting busy services when these events take place it would then be down to the passenger to decide whether or not they are happy to get on a service when it becomes overcrowded or take alternative methods of transport.

"We are committed to improving our services, although some of these changes may take time. Your feedback has helped us identify areas of improvement, and we appreciate your patience and understanding."

In response the supporter said: "Unfortunately, I have interpreted it as complete waffle and an attempt to fob me off without directly answering my question regarding travel to Preston on the 8:57am train from Leeds to Preston on 14th December. You state ‘predicting passenger numbers for specific services is difficult’. In fact, it is very simple. If 7,000 fans are heading to Blackburn, only incompetence of the very highest order can be the reason for putting on three carriages. Anything other than that, quite frankly, is frightening. Five thousand are heading to Preston. If there are only three carriages that day I will be taking photo and video evidence to record the experience and referring to this email."

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