Matt Turner

Said the following about Team Wembley - Euro 2020:

“OPENING STATEMENT

We believe that Chiltern Railways’ Team Wembley should win this award due to their courage and fortitude in the face of an extremely challenging and concerning situation at Wembley Stadium station caused by football supporters on the day of the UEFA Euro 2020 Final in July 2021.

The reduced capacity for supporters inside both the stadium and the pubs, as required under the Government’s social distancing measures, prompted groups of ticketless fans to attempt to force their way into the stadium. Chiltern Railways was the only operator serving the mainline to and from Wembley Stadium station on the day, therefore, when the British Transport Police (BTP) moved to the stadium and Underground, Team Wembley’s platform volunteers were required to manage the crowds and their queuing system single-handedly.

Moreover, when the match finished, fans who were not travelling by train entered the station and breached the queues at multiple stations, leading to Transport for London (TfL) nearly closing Wembley Park temporarily. Due to their excellent planning and organisation, Team Wembley were able to regain control of the crowd at Wembley Stadium Station and ensure that each and every passenger reached their destination safely.

SUPPORTING STATEMENTS

The Team

Chiltern’s cross-departmental ‘Team Wembley’ comprises the following sub-teams: Train Planning, Control, Resources, and Communications and Social Media. On the frontline on the day, the team was enhanced by around 18 Chiltern Railways platform volunteers (employees from across the business who give up their own time to assist with journeys to and from major events) and around 25 additional security stewards.

Challenges & Issues

As part of the Government's Events Research Programme (ERP), a range of procedures and measures were imposed by the Government on the event, bringing significant challenges for those organising the event and transport services. For example, local pubs were required to observe social distancing measures and therefore the 10,000 seats normally available to fans were reduced to only 1,000 on the day, resulting in more people being on the streets than usual.

Furthermore, due to these social distancing measures, a reduced capacity crowd of only 67,173 fans were permitted into the stadium for the final. Despite this, thousands of England fans still gathered at Wembley Stadium throughout the day, many arriving by train at the station. Ignoring pleas from the police to stay away, ticketless fans continued to arrive at the stadium and attempted to force their way past barriers to gain entry. A total of 86 people were arrested by police on the day, 53 of these at Wembley Stadium, and 19 police officers were injured.

During the match, when security stewards at the stadium became overwhelmed, the BTP were ordered to provide support, leaving Chiltern’s Team Wembley to manage the crowds at the station single-handedly. When the match went into extra time and penalties, many of the planned high capacity services ran empty and new trains, stops and buses were required to take supporters home. Following England’s defeat, unhappy fans who were not using the train services also entered the station and breached Chiltern Railways’ queuing system.

Planning & Execution

Despite these challenges, Chiltern’s Team Wembley worked in partnership with Wembley Stadium Station’s Transport Operations Group and the Greater London Authority to successfully deliver all train services for the event.

Train Planning team – This team tailored resources according to the very specific capacity set out by the Government at the last possible minute. The Train Planning team also adapted to the changing circumstances by using Chiltern’s own trains to create a bespoke timetable for the event, reallocating carriages to provide extra stock for services and adding extra trains to the timetable. All achieved on much shorter timescales than usually required for such complex, high capacity plans.

Control team – They put the Train Planning team’s efforts into practice, ensuring that the right train went to the right place at all times and making real-time adjustments to the timetable as required. After the match went to extra time and penalties, the team responded to the increased demand and late finish by putting on an additional service to Birmingham and extending the service to Banbury (with additional stops and standby buses for late leavers).

Resources team – They ensured the availability of all on-train staff, including drivers, train managers and train care staff, who all worked additional hours in order to cover event services. This team also pulled together our team of around 18 platform volunteers and around 25 additional security stewards.

Customer-facing platform volunteers – This team managed the queuing system serving one southbound and three northbound services, regulating the number of passengers that could safely board each service and manually closing the doors before departure. When the BTP moved to the stadium, the team managed the queuing system without any police support. Furthermore, when the queues were breached after the match, they succeeded in removing unruly fans from the area and regaining control of the crowds, enabling TfL to reopen the station.

Communications and Social Media team – They ensured that those coming to/from Wembley on the day were kept informed of any service updates, including timetable changes and delays, and important safety information.

Achievements & Results

On that day, Chiltern Railways ran 177 services, with 122 of those calling at Wembley Stadium station. Indeed, all planned services ran on the day, with further trains, stops and buses added at short notice. After the match, the team carried 8,675 passengers through the station (3,752 northbound and 4,923 southbound), equating to 13% of the overall attendance at Wembley Stadium. Thousands more were supported at the station throughout the day, including those simply wanting to soak up the atmosphere or take advantage of the photo opportunities on this historic occasion.

The unruly football fans, combined with these high volumes of passengers, created a dangerous and frightening situation for all at the station. However, Chiltern’s Team Wembley demonstrated great courage and fortitude in ensuring that every passenger boarded a train and arrived at their destination safely. The excellence of the team’s event planning was key to keeping people moving as quickly and safely as possible. This was supported by their flexibility to be able to respond to the changing situation, such as the late finish of the match. Due to the successful handling of the situation, no passengers were left stranded, none were injured and no-one was arrested at the station.

Finally, from an external perspective, the report of the official investigation into the event contained no negative mentions of Chiltern Railways, thus suggesting that the investigators believed no errors were made by Chiltern in their handling of this challenging situation.“