Station not too small after Everton fans delayed, transport chiefs say

Merseyrail has apologised after Everton fans reported waits of up to an hour at Sandhills railway station following a match at the club's new stadium.

A fault was found with a train's door-monitoring cameras following Wednesday's Carabao Cup match win against Wolverhampton Wanderers, meaning an additional post-match service was terminated at the station, the nearest to Hill Dickinson Stadium.

About 8,000 supporters are thought to have used the station after the match.

Merseyrail said the affected train had been withdrawn in line with safety procedures. Transport chiefs rejected suggestions Sandhills was too small, saying it was "doing exactly what it should do".

The affected train, which had been scheduled as an additional 22:20 BST post-match service, was moved after 10 minutes, causing delays to other Northern Line services while passengers were taken off safely.

A Merseyrail spokesperson said: "We apologise to customers affected, particularly those travelling home after the football, and thank them for their patience."

Everton moved to the new stadium from Goodison Park last year, with about 20,000 passengers using Sandhills on a normal matchday.

Some supporters reported waiting for up to an hour to get home, while others said queues did not move for about 30 minutes.

Simon Finnie, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority's head of network performance, told the region's transport committee there was still work to do but said officials were pleased with how public transport had coped since Everton's move.

Sandhills has already been upgraded for matchday crowds, including a queuing area and footbridge.

Plans to extend the queuing area are due before Liverpool Council's planning committee, with officials saying approval would mean more than £6m had been spent on improvements at the station.

Asked whether Sandhills was too small, Finnie said: "No it isn't.

"It's handling more than enough passengers through in the hour."

The committee was also told there were no plans to build a new station to serve Hill Dickinson Stadium, although one "remains an aspiration".

Dan Lamont, Merseyrail's senior operations project manager, said the station was cleared within 45 minutes to an hour on most matchdays, with average waits of about 10 minutes for trains to Liverpool and 20 minutes for other destinations.

He apologised to affected fans and said the service was improving.

Mo Maghazachi, speaking on behalf of Everton FC, said Goodison Park had had "probably 130 years" of transport planning built around it, while the move to Hill Dickinson Stadium required supporters to establish new travel habits.

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