22 February 2006

Rangers' fans warned to travel early for tonight's Villareal match

Rangers' football fans using the Glasgow Subway are warned to allow plenty time for the journey to Ibrox for tonight's match with Spanish team Villareal.

SPT has been in consultation with Rangers Football Club and Strathclyde Police, to prevent overcrowding and anti-social behaviour on trains, from fans travelling to Ibrox on the Subway.

An SPT spokesman said: "In the interests of public safety, we will be limiting the number of fans boarding trains for tonight's game. We have had problems in the past with a minority of fans and we will not tolerate our staff being threatened by aggressive football supporters.

"In terms of logistics, 3000 fans cannot expect to turn up at a Subway station 10 minutes before kick-off and get to the game in time. The design capacity of our trains is 270, but on match days we've had up to 450 people forcing their way into carriages in a last minute attempt to get to there in time.

"We want to make sure fans have a safe and comfortable journey, while also protecting our staff from unacceptable behaviour. For this reason, we would ask fans planning to attend the game to travel early."

ends