Policing didn’t make sense

FURTHER to the letters in the Advertiser regarding the policing after the league cup game v Sheffield Wednesday, I left the game five minutes early due to work commitments to be met by a line of police and temporary fencing.

I tried to go through the barricade to be told to go round via Don Street, asked if I could go through to get to my vehicle so I could get to work, but was told no and New York Way was for Owls fans only. The game still had five minutes to play and the majority of Owls fans where still in the ground,

I went on to Don Street and up to Main Street to be met by at least 12 police vehicles, four police horses and at least 100 police offices ‘blocking’ any route down Main Street, so then my diversion took me down past the police station and the courts and came out at the side of the train station where about half a dozen police officers where mingling. As I turned left to head towards Masbrough I bumped into about 20 Wednesday fans coming the other way to catch their train and no doubt more would have followed them.

I eventually got to my vehicle and set off towards Canklow/M1 J33, and I couldn’t believe how many Wednesday fans were walking in the road (because there are no footways on this stretch of road) along Centenary Way heading back to Sheffield Road car parks where they had left their vehicles but their route into town had also been blocked by the police,

It would be interesting to know if we are to be treat this way whenever a big crowd is expected. Why can’t the land between NYS and the river be used for away fan parking, and if it’s against the human rights of away fans to hold them in the ground why don’t the police control their exit and walk them slowly around the side of the ground to waiting coaches and the Sheffield Road car parks or towards the train station?

Also, how much did this police ‘operation’cost and who has to pay for it?

Andrew Hercock, Thorpe Hesley