Ipswich Town fans face last train chaos

Football fans have criticised Greater Anglia trains after they had to wait while an extra carriage was found for the last train home.

Fans heading back to Stowmarket and Bury St Edmunds from last Tuesday’s Ipswich Town match against Charlton Athletic arrived at Ipswich station to find the 10.19pm service comprised only one carriage, which was soon packed.

Abellio Greater Anglia says the train was delayed by 26min while it added a carriage, but some fans say it left 45min late.

Bury Free Press Ipswich Town columnist Russell Claydon was one of what he estimated was 400 people on the platform.

He said:“To only put on one carriage to serve big population areas full of Town fans in Stowmarket, Needham Market, Elmswell, Thurston and Bury St Edmunds during the festive holidays was ridiculously short sighted.

“Not only did it delay us 45 minutes with little concrete information about when we would get home, it must have been a health and safety hazard for the people who were left crammed like sardines in the first carriage for so long.

“I shall not be trusting Abellio to get me home from the football again in a hurry.”

Fans took to Twitter with Steve Ranson tweeting: “I suppose it’s hard to plan for football fixtures that are announced months before.”

Andy Mildwater feared it could get worse if Town were promoted: “If we go up, things like this need to be sorted.”

An Abellio Greater Anglia spokesman admitted the train should have had more than one carriage. He added: “Although we acted as quickly as possible to resolve this matter we would like to apologise to passengers for any inconvenience caused.

“We are reviewing this matter to do all we can to avoid any repetition of this issue.”

Picture: James Mould