Lack of Professionalism from Bristol Stewards

Below is a copy of a letter sent by a Hereford United supporter to the Bristol Rovers chairman after last Friday's FA Cup-tie:

Just a note offering feedback following our visit to the Memorial Stadium on Friday night for the FA Cup tie.

Apart from the result (!!) it was a fairly pleasant experience, although it lacked professionalism in terms of the stewards / turnstile operators.

I was travelling with my mother who recently survived kidney cancer and is 74 years old. Before entering the ground she had the customary bag search which was conducted in a polite manner. What was ridiculous was that your steward insisted on confiscating a small plastic bottle of water which my mum brought along in order to take medication. I know this is probably a rule but surely there is a need for common sense when implementing them. Is a small frail 74 year old woman really going to use this as a missile?

I also have no problem with rules as long a they are universally observed. Also in my mums bag was a large hot drinks flask, which would be a much more substantial missile, but no mention was made of this.

The man behind us carried a large golf umbrella with a 4 inch pointed metal tip, but was allowed to enter the ground without question - where is the sense or consistency in that?

The turnstile operators were telling supporters as they entered that you had to sit in the seat number on the ticket, which caused mass confusion if members of the same party went through different turnstiles. They then fannied around swapping tickets around so that groups had tickets next to each other; this caused delays and resulted in long queues even at kick-off.

Having sorted out the ticket fiasco, we got into the ground only to find out that you could sit anywhere.

There were not enough seats allocated and the stewards would not open up the empty section despite long queues forming of fans trying to get seated. Eventually, a large group of fans went into the closed area and sat down leaving the one steward powerless.

I understand from friends that the turnstiles did not have enough change to meet the demand and so rounded down to the nearest fiver which will have cost you and us money in gate receipts. I'm assuming you will be paying Hereford United based on number of fans entering the ground rather than how much money was taken??

Just thought you should know that the service getting into the ground and getting seated was not great. If you can't cope with large away followings perhaps it would be better to make them all ticket so you can plan ahead for the numbers sold.

Bulls News is aware of the identity of the writer but will not reveal the name at this stage.

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