Did WM Police stop you watching City at Brum?

On 12 September 2015 whilst trying to attend the away match at Birmingham City, 51 Bristol City fans were rounded up and issued a section 35 dispersal notice by West Midlands Police, escorted straight to New Street station and put on trains back to Bristol; we believe this was unfair and potentially unlawful.

Working in conjunction with the Football Supporters federation (FSF), The Supporters Club & Trust instructed a lawyer and on 26 January 2016, who wrote to West Midlands Police on behalf of one of the affected supporters claiming false imprisonment and a breach of Article 5 of the European Convention of Human Rights. We received a written response on 12 August 2016 making no offer of compensation. We, along with the lawyer, believe this is wrong.

Stu Rogers, Chairman of the Supporters Club & Trust says, “I was at the game and there was a high police presence. What I have subsequently learned from digging deeper into this issue is that the police did target a smaller group of fans, which by the time they moved to enforce the dispersal notice, had grown to twice the size simply through merging with others walking to the ground”

The police inspector used a megaphone to address the group, branding them all hooligans. The dispersal notices were then issued and the march back to the station took 90 minutes.

We are interested in hearing from any fans who were innocently caught up in this, particularly any that were drinking in and around the Square Peg Wetherspoons pub and then made their way on foot towards St Andrews from 2.30pm that day. Please email stu@bristolcityst.org.uk and he will respond with more details and the likely process going forward.

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