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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Neil Shaw

Incident saw 'unacceptable' crowding at UK Eurovision venue

Fans felt 'unsafe' after crowd congestion at an event at the venue where this year's Eurovision Song Contest is to be held in Liverpool. Some fans at a Jamie Webster gig at the M&S Bank Arena complained one area felt unsafe, reports the BBC.

An investigation by the arena said crowds built up when a new bar payment system crashed and long queues for two bars met toilet queues and people coming in through the main entrance.

The venue called it an isolated incident. The arena, which normally holds 11,000 people will have a reduced capacity for Eurovision with about 6,000 fans expected.

BBC News obtained a draft internal report into the incident from ACC Liverpool.

Fans told the BBC the venue's entrance was so crowded some ticket-holders were too scared to go in.

Paul Lang, from Birkenhead, told BBC Radio Merseyside panicked people walked aware, afraid for their safety.

Fan Liam Kelly said there was 'chaos at the door'.

No injuries were reported and the show went ahead, although it was cut short. James Webster told the Have A Word podcast: "There was congestion at one of the bars. People had phoned up from inside the arena - phoned the police and said, 'It's not safe by this bar.'"

Police attended "briefly".

ACC Liverpool's draft report said: "Whilst staff on duty managed to dissipate the congestion in this particular area of the venue, at the peak of the crowd build-up the congestion was unacceptable."

In a statement, Faye Dyer, managing director of The ACC Liverpool Group, said: "This was an isolated incident with reports of overcrowding in one area by two of the floor bars. The crowd congestion was resolved, people were dispersed and the event was deemed safe to continue.

"We immediately launched an internal investigation which has been completed."

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She added: "We immediately revisited and revised our layouts and processes in relation to crowd flow. We are also accelerating plans to create additional bar and toilet facilities on the arena floor to further enhance the customer experience."

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