I am reading a thread on OTIB with interest regarding the turnstile arrangements for the Dolman next season, this is the post from David Lyodd. "I just wanted to give some advance warning of access issues relating to the Dolman stand next season, due to the redevelopment. The staircase at the Wedlock end of the stand is no longer there, so the only way to get into the stand will be at the Atyeo/Dolman corner of the ground. In order to provide adequate exit points to cope with the 4,664 capacity of the Dolman stand, we have had to remove two turnstiles in that corner and replace them with an exit gate. This means there will be just eight turnstiles providing access to the Dolman stand, all of which will be in the Atyeo/Dolman corner. There will be no access to those turnstiles behind the back of the Dolman stand from the Winterstoke Road Car Park. Each turnstile is designed to cope with a maximum of 600 people per hour. So the message to all Dolman stand users is get there early and beat the rush. If your normal pre-match routine involves getting to Ashton Gate in the fifteen minutes before kick off then it is very likely that there will be longer queues and you might not get in before kick off. So get there early to beat the rush. If you are buying a ticket on the day of the game then get there even earlier. We will do everything we can to get everyone into the ground on time, but we need your co-operation, and this will involve a change in the pre-match routine of Dolman stand users. Get there early #beattherush"
With the above in mind, I have just sent this email to David Lyodd and wondered if anyone can see any flaws or improvements that can be made to my suggestion? Hello David I am reading the thread on OTIB regarding entrance to the Dolman stand next season with interest, I am unable to post on there for some reason despite having signed up? but may I suggest the following.. All Dolman season tickets holders enter the DEH from inside the ground once inside and through the turnstiles. this could also apply to all POTD ticket holders for the Dolman Stand. This would have the effect of staggering the entrance times as you require for the majority of DEH users and not having to check tickets again for entry to the ground. In order for users of other stands to use the DEH they could enter and exit through the rear Dolman entrance on the walkway, this could also apply to POTD ticket holders for other stands, the worst scenario I could see from this is that a very small minority may choose to sit in the wrong stand with their tickets but you could still have a staggered check point for Dolman ticket holders at the points by the toilets and then by the entrance doors to the dolman stand. You would obviously need someone to man the rear entrance to check that ‘other users do have a ‘game ticket’ and advise them that they will need to leave from that entrance to re-enter the ground through their correct turnstile. May need some tinkering and may well have been suggested on OTIB by the time this reaches you. but hope it helps.
Saw this yesterday and surprised was not put on here. But I agree that they should just for a season cut the Dolman bar off to other stands to ease the congestion going through those eight turnstiles. I know others will be pissed off not being allowed into the bar, but by getting there early and sitting through an hour of ****e before the game is not really fair on the dolman stand members.
Agree with you,we were just saying, if you are in the dolman hall, and you sit in the Dolman stand. Which we do every game,tickets are checked before entry,allow sts to go straight in the ground through the hallway upto the dolman stand,this will cut a big chunk of people having to go back outside to enter the ground.
