The Football Association will refund tickets for any fans who missed the Lionesses’ inaugural game as European champions due to park-and-ride chaos.
England thrashed Luxembourg at Stoke City’s Bet365 stadium on Tuesday evening to conclude their World Cup qualification campaign with a 100 per cent win rate, but many supporters missed part or all of the match due to inadequate parking arrangements.
A park-and-ride option was included as part of the FA’s official parking for the match, the first since England lifted the Euro 2022 trophy at Wembley, but the game kicked off to a subdued atmosphere with the bus service unable to cope.
The official attendance was recorded as 24,174 but the match was a sell-out and Stoke’s stadium can hold 30,089.
Angry fans caught up in the mayhem described the parking organisation as “shambolic” and called it a “park-and-ride trip from hell” and it was claimed fans queued in their hundreds desperate for the few buses shuttling people to the stadium.
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An influx of supporters travelling from outside Stoke is thought to have been a particularly aggravating factor in the logjam of traffic around the stadium in the build-up that disrupted the park-and-ride bus route.
There were reports of congestion around the Meir Tunnel Interchange on the A50 Westbound, Trentham Road and the A500. The blockage was not clear until around 8.30pm, roughly the time the second half commenced.
After conceding they had no chance of making the 7.30pm kick off, many fans took the option to return home. Some continued to queue and made it in time to watch the second half. It is believed that others drove closer to the stadium and parked where they could, only to discover they had received parking fines from the council upon returning to their vehicles.
It is understood the park-and-ride is a regular option for fans attending Stoke City matches and the club was in charge of overseeing it. Extra travel options were increased for the fixture and the FA encouraged those with tickets to arrive as early as possible.
FA officials, nonetheless, are in dialogue with Stoke to fully understand what happened and will review travel arrangements for future England fixtures.
The Lionesses’ next match is a high-profile friendly at Wembley against World Cup holders America followed by a game against the Czech Republic at Brighton’s Amex stadium, both next month.
The FA has promised to offer full refunds to supporters who missed the Luxembourg match and can produce evidence of a park-and-ride and match ticket. Fans can also apply for park-and-ride refunds via the company that operates Trentham Park and Ride.
England will travel to next year’s World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand, as one of the favourites. Manager Sarina Wiegman believes the upcoming game against the USA will be the perfect challenge ahead of the tournament.
“It will be a very exciting and loud night,” she said. “We are really looking forward to it being sold out again and that we will play the No 1 in the rankings to see where we are at. I think we’re in a good place. Those are the tests you want all the time.”
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