Airman wrote a detailed piece in i think the Notts County programme, based on 'don't believe everything you read on the internet'.
It said how the club have followed things up and went into every detailed piece of the route, the driver break (to the minute), the time it arrived at the ground, what he had for breakfast, an what his kids want for Christmas. It very much read that there was exaggerated scaremongering going on the internet and things had been properly investigated.
Strangely though, everything was mentioned apart from the bit about hurtling along coned off, unlaid bits of motorway at 50mph and nearly crashing into a JCB !!
Letter that was sent to supporters who travelled on the Tranmere coach:
I am writing to you because you were booked to travel on the Valley Away coach to Tranmere Rovers last Saturday. We are obviously disappointed, as you were, that the coach did not reach the ground in time for kick-off and we have carried out a detailed investigation into the circumstances, taking into account the feedback from supporters, including the steward, and the coach company. We have noted comments made on Facebook, Twitter and Charlton Life.
There were two Valley Away coaches for this match. The coach from Bromley ran to time, reaching the Blackwall Tunnel at 8.38am, stopping for 44 minutes at Norton Canes services from 11.35am to 12.19pm and reached Prenton Park at 2.04pm.
The coach from Larkfield reached the Dartford Tunnel at 9.00am, which was 25-30 minutes later than scheduled. In fact, it left Larkfield and arrived at Gravesend 15 minutes early but had to wait there until the scheduled departure time for a passenger who had booked the previous day but did not turn up. It then had to make an additional stop at Eltham Well Hall because of the uneven distribution of bookings overall. Consequently it was approximately five minutes late at Eltham and 20 minutes late at Bexleyheath, with a knock-on effect at Dartford.
We accept responsibility for this delay, which should have been within the margin of error that we allow on long trips such as this. It was factored in so that we could continue to take bookings at all pick-ups in the lead-up to the game. The coaches would have run at a loss to this match even if full and we therefore needed to fill as many seats as possible. In addition, we obviously prefer to accommodate supporters’ pick-up preferences as far as possible. However, we recognise that diverting to Well Hall en route to Bexleyheath and Dartford is not ideal and we will look to avoid this in future.
This coach was then extensively delayed in traffic on the M1. Satellite tracking of its progress shows that it was stationary on the M1 for four spells aggregating 56 minutes between 10.55am and 12.00pm, which we understand was caused by an accident. Clearly further time may have been lost while the coach was moving slowly in this traffic. The first coach followed the same route and was not delayed, presumably because it was ahead of the accident.
We are aware that passengers’ confidence in the drivers was undermined by an incident in which the coach drove into an area of motorway that was closed for roadworks. The drivers say that the signage was unclear, that they followed two cars into this area and that other vehicles followed them. However, this is not satisfactory and we have brought it to the attention of the coach company.
The coach stopped at Norton Canes services from 1.04pm to 1.21pm. A stop was required in any event to change drivers, although we have questioned the duration given that time was now short.
Finally, whereas the first coach left the M6 at junction 20 and took the M56 towards Birkenhead, the second coach continued to junction 21a and took the M62 through Liverpool.
The satellite tracking information tells us that the first coach took 38 minutes to reach Prenton Park from junction 20, whereas the second coach took 51 minutes, arriving at 3.18pm. Therefore we can reasonably suppose that this choice by the drivers added 13 minutes, although we cannot know what the prevailing traffic conditions were on the M56 at the time the second coach reached junction 20. We recognise that supporters then had to disembark and get through the turnstiles, so most will have missed more than 18 minutes of the game.
I have set this out in some detail because I want you to know the seriousness with which we regard the late arrival. It is also important that we learn from any mistakes we made and are able to advise the coach company of changes that we would like them to make.
Ultimately, however, our conclusion is that with the exception of the delay on the M1 all the other issues were recoverable and the coach would have arrived in good time for kick-off without the motorway delay. We accept that the coach may have avoided this hold-up if it had been on time at the Dartford Tunnel, but there is no guarantee of that and in any case it could not be predicted in advance.
This does not mean that we regard other aspects of the journey as beyond criticism and we are addressing them in conjunction with Reliance, but I hope you will accept that the overall position is complex and does not simply come down to the competence of the drivers.
We are sorry that you missed the kick-off after such a long journey to support the team and hope it will not deter you from travelling with Valley Away in the future.
Comments
What happened on this? A fellow lifer was asking on another thread and I'm also interested.
Airman?
It said how the club have followed things up and went into every detailed piece of the route, the driver break (to the minute), the time it arrived at the ground, what he had for breakfast, an what his kids want for Christmas. It very much read that there was exaggerated scaremongering going on the internet and things had been properly investigated.
Strangely though, everything was mentioned apart from the bit about hurtling along coned off, unlaid bits of motorway at 50mph and nearly crashing into a JCB !!
Lots of grass verges on the way to Plymouth...
shocked
any reaction from the thread starter/others on coach?
I am writing to you because you were booked to travel on the Valley Away coach to Tranmere Rovers last Saturday. We are obviously disappointed, as you were, that the coach did not reach the ground in time for kick-off and we have carried out a detailed investigation into the circumstances, taking into account the feedback from supporters, including the steward, and the coach company. We have noted comments made on Facebook, Twitter and Charlton Life.
There were two Valley Away coaches for this match. The coach from Bromley ran to time, reaching the Blackwall Tunnel at 8.38am, stopping for 44 minutes at Norton Canes services from 11.35am to 12.19pm and reached Prenton Park at 2.04pm.
The coach from Larkfield reached the Dartford Tunnel at 9.00am, which was 25-30 minutes later than scheduled. In fact, it left Larkfield and arrived at Gravesend 15 minutes early but had to wait there until the scheduled departure time for a passenger who had booked the previous day but did not turn up. It then had to make an additional stop at Eltham Well Hall because of the uneven distribution of bookings overall. Consequently it was approximately five minutes late at Eltham and 20 minutes late at Bexleyheath, with a knock-on effect at Dartford.
We accept responsibility for this delay, which should have been within the margin of error that we allow on long trips such as this. It was factored in so that we could continue to take bookings at all pick-ups in the lead-up to the game. The coaches would have run at a loss to this match even if full and we therefore needed to fill as many seats as possible. In addition, we obviously prefer to accommodate supporters’ pick-up preferences as far as possible. However, we recognise that diverting to Well Hall en route to Bexleyheath and Dartford is not ideal and we will look to avoid this in future.
This coach was then extensively delayed in traffic on the M1. Satellite tracking of its progress shows that it was stationary on the M1 for four spells aggregating 56 minutes between 10.55am and 12.00pm, which we understand was caused by an accident. Clearly further time may have been lost while the coach was moving slowly in this traffic. The first coach followed the same route and was not delayed, presumably because it was ahead of the accident.
We are aware that passengers’ confidence in the drivers was undermined by an incident in which the coach drove into an area of motorway that was closed for roadworks. The drivers say that the signage was unclear, that they followed two cars into this area and that other vehicles followed them. However, this is not satisfactory and we have brought it to the attention of the coach company.
The coach stopped at Norton Canes services from 1.04pm to 1.21pm. A stop was required in any event to change drivers, although we have questioned the duration given that time was now short.
Finally, whereas the first coach left the M6 at junction 20 and took the M56 towards Birkenhead, the second coach continued to junction 21a and took the M62 through Liverpool.
The satellite tracking information tells us that the first coach took 38 minutes to reach Prenton Park from junction 20, whereas the second coach took 51 minutes, arriving at 3.18pm. Therefore we can reasonably suppose that this choice by the drivers added 13 minutes, although we cannot know what the prevailing traffic conditions were on the M56 at the time the second coach reached junction 20. We recognise that supporters then had to disembark and get through the turnstiles, so most will have missed more than 18 minutes of the game.
I have set this out in some detail because I want you to know the seriousness with which we regard the late arrival. It is also important that we learn from any mistakes we made and are able to advise the coach company of changes that we would like them to make.
Ultimately, however, our conclusion is that with the exception of the delay on the M1 all the other issues were recoverable and the coach would have arrived in good time for kick-off without the motorway delay. We accept that the coach may have avoided this hold-up if it had been on time at the Dartford Tunnel, but there is no guarantee of that and in any case it could not be predicted in advance.
This does not mean that we regard other aspects of the journey as beyond criticism and we are addressing them in conjunction with Reliance, but I hope you will accept that the overall position is complex and does not simply come down to the competence of the drivers.
We are sorry that you missed the kick-off after such a long journey to support the team and hope it will not deter you from travelling with Valley Away in the future.
The drivers excuse is rubbish for driving in the roadworks area and would no doubt end up investigated by his company,
It may not be a satisfactory answer to all but i think it shows good dillegence from the club