Coaches to Millwall (Merged)

[foghornred]

The complaints about the coaches this season have mainly been about arriving to early !

London is a nightmare and the reason that alot of people went by coach is because they know this, and want to avoid it. When you buy a service (iecoach trip) it is up to the company to provide that service and as they did not, then some sort of compensation should be due,I wonder if the club thinks so.

[bringbacktherobin]

I think the club will be getting a lot of complaints on Monday Morning, It was a complete and utter joke, Left Bristol at 9.30AM got home at 10.30AM and only saw 45 Minutes of football.

11 Hours just to get to london and back.

Lovely tour of the M25.

I think there getting cheap drivers from eastern europe who don't have a clue what there doing, if we went to poland and were asked to drive we wouldnt have a clue.

[italian dave]

I'm not an aplogist for the club, and I was on was on one of the coaches yesterday, so I'm just as p...d off as everyone else, but I am not sure its's fair to blame the club for what happened.

First off - and I agree a minor point - lots of the coaches got held up by the accident near Slough. One of those things. No-one to 'blame'. It happens.

The biggest problem, from what I could gather, was that the instructions from the police were to rendezvous with them at Blackheath. Why?? I've been to Millwall on the coaches several times and we always meet the police at Tower Bridge. No problem - the route there is easy (straight into London, along the embankment, turn right onto Tower Bridge - hard to miss that - and there you are). So why do we have to meet up at a place which is 5 miles the other side of The Den.

And, to make matters worse, the route given by the police was to go virtually the whole length of the South Circular Road. Anyone who knows LOndon knows that this road is a nightmare. You have to go through every shopping area in South London, each with its hold ups and trafficlights. As someone else said earlier, if you've got to get to Blackheath on a coach, you go round the M25. It's a ridiculously long route, as we found out on the way back, but quicker than going all through south London.

The usual route to Tower Bridge would take two and half hours at most; so 3 allowing for the accident. So leaving 9.30, stop at the services, plenty of time. However, the route the police insisted on was always going to take 3-4 hours, plus stopping off time, plus accident. My guess s that the club/coach company had already set the departure time before the police instructions arrived, and once set that is hard to change - tickets printed, 1000 people to contact etc. So it was always going to be a problem.

The police were, apparently, very insistent that the route they set be followed. I know that calls were made to them when it became obvious that things were going wrong, and they seem not to have been particularly helpful. One driver who did find his own way there got a b...king. The coach I was on abandoned its attempt to get to Blackheath when we had only got as far a Clapham (half way) by 2 and we ended up at a police station near the Oval. The police there were none to pleased. However, the route from there to Blackheath goes right past the Millwall ground, so I think they realised they had no choice. So they just madde us wait wait 20 minutes befor they allowed us to go on. It seemed as though the police instructions simply remained as go to Blackheath, even though no-one was getting there!!

Afterward the game the police took us back to Blackheath. Again, no choice. And as lots of posters have said, what a ridiculous route. Thats why it took so long to get out of London.

I can't pretend I understand the rules about drivers hours. It's possible that the problems on the way home, when several drivers exceeded there hours, were unforseen because of the time it took getting there, and the time it took getting away from the ground. I suspect that legally the hours start counting from when the coach engine starts, which happened at 5.30ish after the game. However, we didn't leave the ground til 6 and then went nearly an hour in the wrong direction on police instructions. If it was forseeable, then maybe the coah companies should have organised that better.

To be fair to the club, its a bit ironic that the biggest criticism levelled at the most of the season has been that the coaches leave too early!! We have got to places like Crewe and Carlisle in recent weeks by 12.30, and all I've heard is how we could have stayed in bed an extra hour!! I don't think anyone would have said before the game that 9.30 was too late, and if they had announced that the coachs would leave at 8.30 that would have been criticised.

As I said at the start, I was on one of the coaches, got there late, got back 9.30 but had to wait til 10.45 to meet someone I was giving a lift to (and still didn't find them, hope you got home OK Bill) so I understand how everyone feels. But I'm not suer just shouting at the club is going to help. If we had won yesterday, I suspect that no-one would have cared how late we got home.

[robins72]

Problem was there was a fire on the clapham road so some of it was closed added to the car that broke down at Slough added to the nightmare journey!! Which coach got turned away though?

[zidereddy]

just a thought why didnt you get off in outer london and get the tube in would v got there alot sooner for sure easy to say in heinsight i know ! sounds like chaos

[zidereddy]

I think the club will be getting a lot of complaints on Monday Morning, It was a complete and utter joke, Left Bristol at 9.30AM got home at 10.30AM and only saw 45 Minutes of football.

11 Hours just to get to london and back.

Lovely tour of the M25.

I think there getting cheap drivers from eastern europe who don't have a clue what there doing, if we went to poland and were asked to drive we wouldnt have a clue.

crikey u did all that in a hour !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bringbacktherobin]

Yep ziderreddy, all of that in a hour.

Driver was a nutter!

[red til dead]

We were on Coach 5. Got to the ground at about 3:30 and back at 9:20. Fortunately we didn't stop on the way back.

Rules about driving are below.

Daily Driving 9 hours. Can be extended to 10 hours twice a week.

Breaks from driving 45 minutes break on or immediately following 4½ hours cumulative driving. After four and a half hours driving, a driver must take a break of at least 45 minutes.

We just made it inside the ten hours.

Although the early stop at Chievely which meant that we got caught up in the accident didn't help, but it was the decision to go round the South Circular which was stupid - anyone who knows anything about London knows how slow this is. Certainly our driver knew this and clearly it was not his idea. So who decided the route? Worse,the idea that 19 coaches could keep together in that amount of traffic and all end up together at the rendevzous point was madness and compounded the confusion. At one point we passed a City coach parked and facing the wrong way. Our driver seemed to get lost trying to find the rendezvous point and then not to know where the ground was. Our coach collectively decided to forget the police and get to the ground. This was well after kick-off.

We finally get to the ground and in desperation were dropped off somewhere/anywhere outside the ground which turned out not to be the away end. Everyone on the coach then ran (as best we were all able) around the stadium (a steward pointed the way), which took us past the small, and no doubt surprised, group of home fans who were sat on the small bank outside the ground. So there we were - City fans, Millwall fans, no police and the way into the ground blocked by closed gates. Precisely the sort of situation you pay to go on the official coach to avoid. Thankfully the gates were opened, the Millwall fans, whilst abusive, stayed put and we eventually got into the ground. It might not have turned out that way though.

Despite all this, the atmosphere on our coach was one of good humour, no-one had a go at the driver and all credit to the volunteer guide/helper who kept his cool and nerve.

We now need to see what attitude the Club will adopt. At the very leastst we will be looking to get the travel cost back although given we missed almost half the game, the club ought to think about doing something about that too.

One of the more bizarre trips we have done but one that will live long in the memory. Shame about the game though. We took less time to get to Middlesbrough than we did to get to Millwall.

Will the ST be co-ordinating all the complaints/claims for reimbursement?

[ciderup]

I was on coach 8 which,I believe was the last to arrive at the ground (4 o'clock). The old bill couldnt even get the coach in to the secure pen. We had to go out of the secure area to board our coach for the return journey. My day went like this:

Turn up at AG at 9-25 to be told our coach has gone! Jump on coach 1 to catch up coach 8 which we finally got on at Eastville.

Stopped at services at 11-10 left again at 12-00 (fair enough). We were held up for a bit in the aftermath of a road accident on the motorway.

Once we reached London we spent ages driving up and down the South circular making regular U turns until I think the driver (wanted to be called Turbo! yeah,right) blocked a major traffic route and went to buy an A-Z of London.Eventually the old bill turned up and organised a rolling road block escort for us to finally arrive at the Den at 4-00.

The return journey went on forever too. Why the hell were we taken out of London east bound? We have never done this before. It has always been an escort to London bridge,down the embankment,cut through to Knightsbridge then A4 to M4. Even I know that way!

To be sent out of London on the DOVER road was scandalous IMHO. The organisation was crap from beginning to end and a snottogram has been sent to the club asking for explanations why this happened and why the drivers hired essentially DID NOT KNOW WHERE THEY WERE GOING!!

don't use cats very often as I prefer to drive but I will never use the official transport again!

[BCFC_Nick]

What i heard from our coach driver (I was on coach 3) was that each coach was told to follow the coach infront. This is where the plan went wrong. The coach infront of us lost sight of the coach infront of him and had no idea where he was going so he just drove around london. About 2:30 our coach driver realised that the coach infront had got us lost (taking us into all the london traffic) so he stopped the other coach and told him that we would be the one to drive infront. After about 5mins stuck in non-moving traffic we noticed some coppers on bikes, my mate and this man ran down to the OB and told them about what had happened and a few minutes later we we're having a police escourt of our own. We eventually got to the ground and realised that we had missed 15mins of the game. I think we were the 5th or 6th coach there at the time. I was just glad to get off because there were these 4 or 5 women behind moaning and groaning about this, that and the other.

Coming home wasn't much better, the coach was really hot and there wasn't much air con to cool it down. Stopping at the service station just provided the women behind to moan more, after the stop the driver was about to pull off and one of the women wasn't on the coach yet, she turned up and the driver opened the door, one of her mates spoke to the leader of the coach and said "why did the driver close the door?!" so he replied "it was just a joke". The woman walked back to her seat and as she walked past me i heard her say "pr**k, don't find that funny after the day i've had". Yeah maybe she did have a bad day but so had the rest of us, he didn't do anything wrong, he wasn't even the one who shut the door so why should he have been called a pr**k? All in all it was a bad day for everyone with the coachs being late and city loosing.

BCFC_Nick

[paulie]

not on official coach ,but went from the bloomfield pub,coach arrived late was supposed to be there at 9 didnt get there till 10,,no alchohol allowed much to the disgust of most of us ,but thats what the emergency exit at the back is for,then head for tog hill,quick p break before we hit the m4,next p break reading ,lots of city there aswell,then back onto m4 held up on m4 due to broken down car,anyway the original plan was to go to victoria then tube to whitechapple for a few bevvys then back on tube to south bermondsy,but with the time now 1.30 our plan was looking a bit dodgy,so we all jumped of coach at earls court tube stationand staight into nearest pub,we dident realise it at first but when we saw two blokes holding hands we knew wed made the wrong desisionbut hey its a free country, 3 quick pints in there and then to earls court tube,lost count of the amount of tube and train changes,arrived new den at 2.50 the rest is history,best part of the day for me was when 2000 city fans got of the train at tower bridge and started singing ,all the tourists must have thought there was a ongoing terrorist attack happening with the amount of coppers,one copper said to my mate that it had been the biggest police operation in london this year,with over 800 being involed,anyway heres to next saturday and hopefully our long overdue party

[dezgimed]

Did City organise this trip on the cheap though?

We're usually taken by Peter Carol coaches, and to be honest they aint anything special, but certainly alot nicer than the Prisoner of War coach I was on.

Alot of skanky coaches about yesterday, with crap drivers.

[foghornred]

It seems that Bakers Dolphin work their drivers harder than Peter Carol, as they seem to have amassed to many hours,this should have been considered before setting off which should have been the same time as we set off for Carlisle !

[kiwicolin]

Was this the Bakers Dolphin coaches?

Our driver was Polish too, and his hours expired.

Plus his turning, breaking and general driving was very eratic.

Idiots really.

was this coach 16?

he was on the phone a lot and driving at the same time and also he seemed

to be racing with another bakers dolphin driver on the way back.stop at services

20 miles away from bristol. wait for new drivers who apparently chasing us down the

motorway with the new drivers . they were suppose

to stop near reading.

our coach driver wasn't too happy about this and was annoyed with his fellow drivers.

it is not there fault that their hours of driving had surpassed. it is the law.it is down to the company

that the drivers have enough time to drive us there and back.think of what would of happened if this was from

carlisles trip?

you can't blame the club as they only book the coaches.it is the coach company to blame for not getting there drivers

to know the way to the ground and where the escorts to the ground is.the club can take up your complaint.

our coach followed another coach through london so whether they knew of the point of pickup for the police to escort us i don't know.

[beau45]

What i heard from our coach driver (I was on coach 3) was that each coach was told to follow the coach infront. This is where the plan went wrong. The coach infront of us lost sight of the coach infront of him and had no idea where he was going so he just drove around london. About 2:30 our coach driver realised that the coach infront had got us lost (taking us into all the london traffic) so he stopped the other coach and told him that we would be the one to drive infront. After about 5mins stuck in non-moving traffic we noticed some coppers on bikes, my mate and this man ran down to the OB and told them about what had happened and a few minutes later we we're having a police escourt of our own. We eventually got to the ground and realised that we had missed 15mins of the game. I think we were the 5th or 6th coach there at the time. I was just glad to get off because there were these 4 or 5 women behind moaning and groaning about this, that and the other.

Coming home wasn't much better, the coach was really hot and there wasn't much air con to cool it down. Stopping at the service station just provided the women behind to moan more, after the stop the driver was about to pull off and one of the women wasn't on the coach yet, she turned up and the driver opened the door, one of her mates spoke to the leader of the coach and said "why did the driver close the door?!" so he replied "it was just a joke". The woman walked back to her seat and as she walked past me i heard her say "pr**k, don't find that funny after the day i've had". Yeah maybe she did have a bad day but so had the rest of us, he didn't do anything wrong, he wasn't even the one who shut the door so why should he have been called a pr**k? All in all it was a bad day for everyone with the coachs being late and city loosing.

BCFC_Nick

Was on the same coach as you! Not a great day all round really, but like you said made a whole lot worse with those stupid women moaning, i was getting so close to losing it! I didn't actually hear her call my uncle a p***k, my friend told me, but if i had heard her say it i think that would of just thrown me over the edge! I never want to be on a bus with them again!!

[Bawno]

OK to cut a long story short everyone who went on C.A.T.S yesterday to Milwall, including myself, recieved an absolutely dreadful service. The steward on our bus, called to step in for someone else, gave us all a talk on the way home from Reading services at around 9 o clock at night. Below are the main points he mentioned and wants as many people as possible to write and complain about. Hopefully we will recieve some form of return on our money or anything to compensate for the dreadful service which has made myself and many others ever question using CATS again. I certainly won't. Anyways, the main points/arguments are as follows:

1. Most missed a large part of the first half (our coach was 30mins but others didn't get there until the half time interval)!

2.Our driver literally spoke NO ENGLISH but was able to communicate he was following the other coaches in front which resulted in us getting lost 3 TIMES in London and having to do several u-turns. The driver basically never knew where he was going!

3.Those on my coach (coach 10) were nearly involved in 3 crashes, one of which saw our Polish driver literally go straight through a red light and not stop at a roundabout!

4.At 8.30PM most coaches pulled into Reading services where the dirvers informed us their hours were up. So they left all of us stranded and our own bus steward had to make the call to Bakers Dolphin for extra drivers to come out. We then waited until 9.00PM for a new driver.

5.All other traveling fans who went on other company coaches/trains e.g. Megabus, Virgin Trains, arrived promptly on time and saw the whole match.

I hope my 'official' points as argued by our own bus steward about how shabby CATS was yesterday has given you all a basic outline for how to complain. I certainly will be doing so. This was the official club coach service for God sake and the drivers of roughly 18 coaches didn't know where they were going!!! Absolutely terrible. All in all we were on a coach for about 12 hours. 9.30-3.30 getting there and then 5.30-10.15 getting home. I hope the club will promptly reacted to what happend yesterday and offer the fans an apology, and perhaps a refund if we're lucky.

On a lighter note I hope we will trounce Rotherham on Saturday and finally gain promotion.

[redmelsh]

We had to stop at the services to swap drivers as he had passed his driving limit. We were told it would be five minutes. When the new driver turned up, about 45 minutes later, he had to ask the previous driver how to drive the coach

[Blue Lion]

Can i make a suggestion for your future reference, outside Paddington Stn theres a cab rank now if theres 5 of you this is what it will cost you approx per head

FULHAM £2.50 - £3

WEST HAM £6 - £7

CRYSTAL PALACE £8 - £8.50

QPR £2.50 - £3

MILLWALL £4 - £5

ORIENT £6 - £7

As long as you're not wearing colours and are sensible you'll be fine plus return cabs will be easily found outside all grounds apart from Crystal Pal, which is a poxy ground to get to and from even for London based fans and 'The Den' as not many cabbies stick their light on near the Millwall ground apart from me, hope this helps!

[WTFiGO!?!]

What i heard from our coach driver (I was on coach 3) was that each coach was told to follow the coach infront. This is where the plan went wrong. The coach infront of us lost sight of the coach infront of him and had no idea where he was going so he just drove around london. About 2:30 our coach driver realised that the coach infront had got us lost (taking us into all the london traffic) so he stopped the other coach and told him that we would be the one to drive infront.

''This'll be like the blind leading the blind'' was the quote of our driver at the sevices.

He was adamently against using the instructed route as none of the drivers had done it before. The instructed route by OB was why the operation ultimately became unhinged.

[ciderup]

Cheers Blue Lion. Will bear that in mind next time we are in London.

best of luck to you!

[Barry]

2.Our driver literally spoke NO ENGLISH but was able to communicate he was following the other coaches in front which resulted in us getting lost 3 TIMES in London and having to do several u-turns. The driver basically never knew where he was going!

3.Those on my coach (coach 10) were nearly involved in 3 crashes, one of which saw our Polish driver literally go straight through a red light and not stop at a roundabout!

Surely it can't be legal to have drivers who can't speak english........ can they read the road signs??!

Reminds me...... not so long ago the bus operator UK North had to shut down after it was found, that the majority of their drivers were Polish and couldn't understand some of the road signs. But this took a fatality to discover this lack of safety.

lets hope these drivers get checked out if they are all as dangerous as they sound

[budbcfc]

iwas on coach 14(berkley). we turned into a dead end on a housing estate in tooting somewhere arrived to find no escort so had to wait 20 mins and ran out of deisel on way home. we arrived at the ground at 3-20. going to complain bigtime.

[croax]

I arrived in the ground with around 10-15min untill half time. The way back was a joke as well. We didnt leave the ground untill about 6 (fair enough) but the driver decided to extend our tour of london to Europe! I couldnt understand this as it must have added about 40 min onto the journey back. We arrived in Reading for a '5 min' stop in which the drivers could change due to some stupid health and safety rule. After about half an hour the new drivers turned up despite being told they were already in Reading when we arrived. When they arrived and changed over one of the coach drivers who had already done too much driving got into the front seat and drove them all back down to Bristol?!?! Now onto our new driver. Quote driver 'i've never seen a coach like this before.' Although, this coach driver was not being paid per the hour as we were going what seemed to be like an extra 20mph quicker. The coach soon started to warm up, and after about 10min the driver managed to work out how to turn on the air-con, only for it to be taken away from us 20 seconds later. After giving up all hope on the air-con we arrived in the centre of Bristol for which we received a blast a cold air from up above, which was greeted with sarcastic jeers. The supervisor of the coach then came to the back and said 'we almost had to stop, as the front of the coach steamed up and he couldn't see.' Was a bit disappointed as there was no collection for the driver, had quite a bit of change i was going to give him....

[STA-BS14]

An utter shambles, was on coach 8, unbearabley hot on there too, spent 11 horus on the bastard thing, arrived at ground at 3:50.

[redmelsh]

I arrived in the ground with around 10-15min untill half time. The way back was a joke as well. We didnt leave the ground untill about 6 (fair enough) but the driver decided to extend our tour of london to Europe! I couldnt understand this as it must have added about 40 min onto the journey back. We arrived in Reading for a '5 min' stop in which the drivers could change due to some stupid health and safety rule. After about half an hour the new drivers turned up despite being told they were already in Reading when we arrived. When they arrived and changed over one of the coach drivers who had already done too much driving got into the front seat and drove them all back down to Bristol?!?! Now onto our new driver. Quote driver 'i've never seen a coach like this before.' Although, this coach driver was not being paid per the hour as we were going what seemed to be like an extra 20mph quicker. The coach soon started to warm up, and after about 10min the driver managed to work out how to turn on the air-con, only for it to be taken away from us 20 seconds later. After giving up all hope on the air-con we arrived in the centre of Bristol for which we received a blast a cold air from up above, which was greeted with sarcastic jeers. The supervisor of the coach then came to the back and said 'we almost had to stop, as the front of the coach steamed up and he couldn't see.' Was a bit disappointed as there was no collection for the driver, had quite a bit of change i was going to give him....

Coach 7???

[Guest DanC]

was this coach 16?

he was on the phone a lot and driving at the same time and also he seemed

to be racing with another bakers dolphin driver on the way back.stop at services

20 miles away from bristol. wait for new drivers who apparently chasing us down the

motorway with the new drivers . they were suppose

to stop near reading.

our coach driver wasn't too happy about this and was annoyed with his fellow drivers.

it is not there fault that their hours of driving had surpassed. it is the law.it is down to the company

that the drivers have enough time to drive us there and back.think of what would of happened if this was from

carlisles trip?

you can't blame the club as they only book the coaches.it is the coach company to blame for not getting there drivers

to know the way to the ground and where the escorts to the ground is.the club can take up your complaint.

our coach followed another coach through london so whether they knew of the point of pickup for the police to escort us i don't know.

I was on 16, TBH I don't think they knew anything about a police escort and our coach just followed the other bakers dolphin coach in front who had a TOM TOM.

Even though we arrived in time for a few pints before kick off I still will be making a complaint and demanding some sort of refund due to the drivers erratic driving, Racing the other coach, Jumping many red lights to keep up with the other coach and constantly on his mobile. Each sharp corner we took I thought we were going to crash. He didn't seem to be in total control of the coach.

Oh and making it back to AG about 10ish from London is just not good enough.

Any future trip I may take on CATS I shall bring my Tom Tom with me just in case.

[croax]

Coach 7???

Yup

[giles_23_bcfc]

I was on coach 12. What an absolute disgrace! Left my house at 7:10am, and didnt get back home until about 11:30.

Left Ashton Gate at 9:30 thinking ew would be at the ground by 1-1:30 latest. 1:45 comes and I STILL hadnt seen a sign for Peckham (knowing that the two were very close!) Went to talk to the driver at 2:50 and he said it was about 10-15 misutes until the "police escort", then ANOTHER 10 miles to the ground from there. FINALLY got into the ground at 3:30, only to have some bloke in his 50's having a go at me and my mate for being late! Of course, by that time, i was totally pi55ed off so i retaliated to him.

Half time came, and while in the queue for a pint (5 mins into half time!) The last of the 18 coaches that arrived turned up. I got my pint and was chatting to a bloke that was on it. Then was chatting to a steward i know and he told me that a coach was so late, the police had actually turned it round and sent it back home to Bristol. That just made me feel even more pi55ed off about the whole situation.

Finished my pint and got back into the stand a couple of minutes after the 2nd half kicked off, only to be confronted by the same bloke in his 50's again, and again, i retaliated, who then tried offering me outside after the game. It turned out he was on the end of the row in front of me, so as i was walking past people, he tried grabbing my scarf (which was tied round my wrist), i then brought my arm right back, almost hitting the bloke i was trying to get past.

Game ends. Kept back in the ground, which i didnt mind because i expected it either way the result went. Got out the ground at about 5:15, and was told that we HAD to wait for the police to escort us out. I then said "We wont get out much before 6:00." And, gues what, to my surprise, we started leaving the ground at 5:58! I got on the coach when i got out the ground, and it was far too hot and stuffy to sit in there for 45 minutes so i stood outside the back of the coach until we were about to leave.

Was THEN told that we would be stopping at Reading services for a driver change. Thinking that this would only take about 5 minutes i thought we would be back by about 9. Pulls up in the services at 8pm, asked if i quickly had time to get a sarnie, to which the driver replied "Yes, but keep an eye out" so i was thinking about 5 minutes. 8:45pm we finally left the services!

FINALLY got back to Ashton Gate at about 10:15. 13 HOURS AFTER leaving Ashton Gate that morning. It felt like i had been to Carlisle again!

City Away Travel Service?

City Away Travel Shambles more like!

[Bristolface]

I was on coach 12!

Arrived at the ground at 3:35 was an absoute discrace and I Demand an explanation and a refund from an official at the club!

Was just an absolute shambles all day.

Yea me and my mates were on coach 12 as well whyat a joke, got dumped by are driver outside ground. Had to run down an allyway past aload of Millwall you were on an embankment waiting for us all, then not alowed in on courner of North stand, to be told to run around ground. Then stopped by the Police saying you lot are mad cant walk round here with out protection. Are driver was no where to be seen as we exited Bus, to affraid I think of what we were going to say to him. And then the total utter joke on retuturn journey, waiting for our new drivers, Bakers Dolphin are a buch of rymes with LUNT. Took longer than trip to Carlisle my Dad went on bloody joke, Must say though everyone at Millwall, staff, stewards and police were all ok though when ya think what they have to put up with week in week out we must seem like angels.

[Headley Red]

To all my fellow travellers on coach 5.

It was a long and hard day, i feel after spending nearly 10 hours together that I know you all so well, Xmas cards and birthdays are now in my diary and I can only say I am missing you all today. The support goup will be set up shortly and "The Friends of Coach 5 Support Group" will be meeting shortly to discuss our day, highlights would be:

The young ladies soaking up the sun on Clapham Common, Asking that bloke the Way, The cry of "STOP" there it is, The 100 Mts dash from the home end down the east stand to the locked gates, The Games of "Can we find the key to the padloack", The steward who did insist on searching me or "I was out" (Out we were all 30 mins late as it was, whatever you monkey), The escort out and us being left behind and finally the lovely he/she who kindly threw us a can of lager, most kind and boy was she a munt!!!

On a serious side it's only the 2nd time this season I've done the coaches, the other being to that little Welsh mining town full of old slag and I have to say it shall be the last ever......My mate and I are well into our 30's and the car is now the favoured mode of transport, it's only cause we thoguht it would be safer that we did take the coach.....safer I thought as we were all running round the ground!!!!

At least we didn't have to stop on the way home and at least we didn't give the driver much stick.

Oh well keep an eye open for the first meeting so we can all meet again.