Plans to halt city’s trams over match are an ‘embarrassment’
AN MP has described plans to stop trams running between the city centre and Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough ground around the time of an upcoming match with Leeds United as an “embarrassment to the city”.
Sheffield South East Labour MP Clive Betts has called for council and police bosses to work with Sheffield Wednesday to avoid public services in the city council from “grinding to a halt because of a football match”.
The Yorkshire derby clash kicks off at 12.30pm on Saturday, with Sheffield’s Supertram due to be closed from 10.30am to 12.30pm and from 1.30pm to 3.30pm because of violent altercations at last year’s fixture. Supertram said the match last year saw “serious incidents including vandalism and damage to our trams, and more seriously intimidation to our staff with physical and verbal assaults”.
Bosses said suggestions to manage “potentially difficult fixtures”,
Said the move was disappointing for the football fans who usually travel by tram.
such as reducing away tickets and managing the transport of away fans, were rejected by Sheffield Wednesday.
Supertram said: “In light of this and following discussions with South Yorkshire Police, we have regretfully had to take the difficult decision to suspend tram services between the city centre and Hillsborough for a period of time prior to the game and after the game.”
In a letter to Labour-run Sheffield Council, South Yorkshire Police and the club, Mr Betts, said it was “an embarrassment to the city, quite frankly, that public services grind to a halt because of a football match”.
He said: “This is really disappointing not merely for those Wednesday fans who regularly go on the tram and we want to try and encourage people to go by public transport wherever possible, but also for the many other people who are not going to the game that day, who presumably want to do simple things like shopping and who will be considerably disadvantaged.”
South Yorkshire Police said it supported Supertram’s decision and was “disappointed a satisfactory resolution could not be reached”. Sheffield City Council and Sheffield Wednesday have been approached for comment.