Bristow's Bench safety

[portugull]

Matt you imply that had the club incorporated handrails from the outset capacity would have been reduced.
Can you explain for the benefit of fans who are not in the know exactly what you mean. Thanks.

[ferrarilover]

Handrails make it much slower for the Bench to be emptied of spectators. We have 8 minutes to get everyone out. If we have no handrails and it takes us 8 minutes to evacuate 1750 people, then in order to accommodate handrails, we must reduce the capacity accordingly.

Without actually building it and seeing how long it took to get everything out, we had no reliable way of knowing how long it would take (we still don't, but that's another story, for now, assume we do) to get everyone out.

Matt.

[Alpine Joe]

Mid Devon

Today I left the bench immediately on full time and an elderly couple both with walking sticks needed assitance from 3 or 4 fans to enable them to safely navigate down those stairs. This took them an absolute age and fans behind me where getting quite frustrated.

In the interests of health and safety the smokers are forced not to smoke, and those who fancy a drink have their bottle tops removed etc etc. It's a pity that in the name of safety Stewards cannot also insist that those with walking sticks be forced to leave the grandstand after those capable of leaving more quickly. There are lots of things you may wish to do inside Plainmoor but are not allowed to e.g light a fag, take a photo...maybe the right to hold everyone else up should be added to that list.

I know Mid Devon appeals to common sense in wondering why the more infirm don't hang on for a few minutes to let the youngsters go by, but that just isn't going to work. How many times have any of us been stood in the central aisle of a coach unable to get off as the elderly stand in the gangway, fussing around with coats, handbags, luggage in overhead racks etc. Requesting them to stay in their seats for an extra thirty seconds while those ready to get straight off can do so will fall on deaf (literally in some cases) ears, and they won't behave any more sensibly on 'The Bench' than they do at the end of a coach trip.

Therefore, reluctantly, I see no alternative to handrails unless we give stewards the authority to say 'sit down you old fool' to those doddery members of the OAP army who relish causing a human traffic jam.

Hopefully these rails can be incorporated without effecting spectators sightlines when looking to the left or right. Of course an enclosure for the elderly, just as we provide a separate stand for families, and an area for the disabled, might have been another possibility.....but more likely than not we'll end up with rails and be held up just as long as before, the only change being that those causing the congestion can do so in the happy knowledge that they're no longer jeopardizing their own safety

[ferrarilover]

Hahahaha, I absolutely love the above post and hereby lodge an application that Joe be made Mayor of England, or something.

Matt.

[robbotufc]

Anyone who's having a good moan about how steep the Bristow Bench is ,need to walk up the steps on the top tear to the back of the Millenium stadium Cardiff,i know which one is more knackering to walk up to, also can't remember seeing any handrails either

[chardie]

Mid Devon In the interests of health and safety the smokers are forced not to smoke, and those who fancy a drink have their bottle tops removed etc etc. It's a pity that in the name of safety Stewards cannot also insist that those with walking sticks be forced to leave the grandstand after those capable of leaving more quickly. There are lots of things you may wish to do inside Plainmoor but are not allowed to e.g light a fag, take a photo...maybe the right to hold everyone else up should be added to that list.

I know Mid Devon appeals to common sense in wondering why the more infirm don't hang on for a few minutes to let the youngsters go by, but that just isn't going to work. How many times have any of us been stood in the central aisle of a coach unable to get off as the elderly stand in the gangway, fussing around with coats, handbags, luggage in overhead racks etc. Requesting them to stay in their seats for an extra thirty seconds while those ready to get straight off can do so will fall on deaf (literally in some cases) ears, and they won't behave any more sensibly on 'The Bench' than they do at the end of a coach trip.

Therefore, reluctantly, I see no alternative to handrails unless we give stewards the authority to say 'sit down you old fool' to those doddery members of the OAP army who relish causing a human traffic jam.

Hopefully these rails can be incorporated without effecting spectators sightlines when looking to the left or right. Of course an enclosure for the elderly, just as we provide a separate stand for families, and an area for the disabled, might have been another possibility.....but more likely than not we'll end up with rails and be held up just as long as before, the only change being that those causing the congestion can do so in the happy knowledge that they're no longer jeopardizing their own safety

Did it make you feel better insulting our elderly supporters?

Shame on you.

[portugull]

Matt how can you say handrails will make it much slower to evacuate the Bench when you have already admitted you have no reliable way of knowing how long it will take to evacuate in an emergency.
As for capacity I wonder how many times the Bench will be 100% full this season. Argyle, Exeter & Man Utd in the F A Cup.

[GazTheGull]

Anyone who's having a good moan about how steep the Bristow Bench is ,need to walk up the steps on the top tear to the back of the Millenium stadium Cardiff,i know which one is more knackering to walk up to, also can't remember seeing any handrails either

The Olympic stadium also had bloody steep steps!

[Dave]

I see no need for handrails either, I have been in the top tier of the big stand at Elland road, jeez that one is about as steep as you can get, plently of young and old in there, no problems getting in or out, no handrails either.

Thing is with Bristows bench as we know its new, also as we know it takes time to get use to something new, we have never had a stand this high up( dont laugh) I say hang on , dont put handrails in for the moment and give it time.

[ferrarilover]

Matt how can you say handrails will make it much slower to evacuate the Bench when you have already admitted you have no reliable way of knowing how long it will take to evacuate in an emergency.
As for capacity I wonder how many times the Bench will be 100% full this season. Argyle, Exeter & Man Utd in the F A Cup.

I don't know how far away Jupiter is, but I know it'll take me longer to get there than it will to get to the my front door. We do now have a way of measuring how long it takes the Bench to empty at the end of a match. I made a point, in brackets to indicate that it was NOT to detract from the point I was making, that we have no reliable way of truly knowing how long it would take in an emergency to empty the stand. As it stands, a nasty little man, who didn't do very well at school, wears a Tesco own brand suit and is consequently employed by some branch or another of the H&S brigade will come to a game at random, wait for the final whistle to go and start a stopwatch. Provided everyone is out within 8 minutes, then he can file his report and never darken our door again (well, until next time). The reason I made the comment that I did is because this is in no way indicative of how long it would take to empty the stand in case of emergency. Tell people there is a bomb under every seat, and see how quickly everyone gets out, that's a proper test.

THIS SEASON - is the key problem with your argument here.

Matt.

[ferrarilover]

Did it make you feel better insulting our elderly supporters?

Shame on you.

Jesus wept, are you REALLY that devoid of a sense of humour that this is your genuine reaction to a very well judged, humorous post?

Matt.

[robbotufc]

Bleedin Hell!!! we are talking about the Bristow Bench here not the Nou Camp