More than 50 fans missed last night’s derby defeat to Norwich due to severe disruption on the London to Ipswich railway line. Journeys from London Liverpool Street to Ipswich were taking three hours, almost three times as long as usual, causing supporters to arrive at Portman Road as late as the 70th minute of the match.
One unhappy fan, Gareth Mead, told TWTD: "With the final score so bad it might have been a blessing in disguise, but the disruption on one of the busiest days of the year was pathetic.
"I was devastated to miss two-thirds of the match. National Express and Network Rail need to make a significant apology and should fully compensate those travelling, not just for the cost of the train fare, but for the football ticket too.
"With rail tickets costing as much as £68 to stand in a dirty carriage for much of the evening and match tickets at around £30, Town supporters spent close to £100 for nothing.”
Gareth was on the 17:58 which should have got into Ipswich at 19:21. Instead it was cancelled once it arrived at Colchester at around 20:25.
This then returned to London with a few Ipswich fans on it that had given up. Those that remained had to wait a further 15 minutes for another train which finally got into Ipswich at 20:55.
According to the noticeboards at Liverpool Street the 17:50 was "delayed" indefinitely and the 18:10 was cancelled.
Gareth says there were a catalogue of errors and failures by the terminus and rail line companies: "Many ticket machines at London Liverpool Street were not accepting credit or debit cards, leaving queues of half an hour in order to collect or buy tickets.
"Their claims of up to 30-minute delays at London Liverpool Street proved wildly inaccurate, with trains arriving one hour and 40 minutes late.
"There were announcements by the driver but the Tannoy system wasn't working so no one could hear what was being said.
"I would estimate that there were around 50 people wearing Ipswich Town replica shirts, with potentially many more, including Norwich fans, left with a ruined evening - not taking into account the final score.”