Coventry City

i find it shocking that bluebadge holders are charged £15 to park and anyone with walking issues expect a hike

My comments below are about the away end.
From the concourse to the seating area there is about 30 steps going up with a hand rail. This comes out about half way up the stand. Row U is one step down and Row V is one step up once you reach the stand.

If you ask a steward, they will take you through a side door and let you go to your seat from the bottom of the stand. If they take you this way, there is a hand rail up to approximately Row M.

I parked on Car Park B which was literally a stones throw from the away turnstiles. A bit pricey at £12 though!

Was concerned about this visit as an away supporter having read the less than inspiring comments of previous posters. Firstly, parking. I telephoned in advance but was told no need to book but will cost £10, there are numerous spaces and they have never sold out. Just follow the signs to car park B, flash your blue badge, then pay cash to the barrier attendant. Car park B is immediately behind the away supporters end and there are plentiful large disabled spaces at the closest point to the stadium entrance. Big tick in the box for Coventry City apart from the hefty £10 fee.

The only downside, whilst concession tickets with free carer are available, there is no system in place to allocate easy access seats for the ambulant disabled. The away section was a 3000 sell-out and therefore, I was forced to climb a large number of steps to get to my seat – very steep and distressing but at least a nice view! Taking the 3 points home helped get over my distress!!!

on entering the carpark at the ground we were directed to the ticket office to purchase the pass for the car park we were charged £10 to park and we were told that they no longer give consessions to disabled customers

Visited as away supporters and discovered some significant problems for away wheelchair users at Coventry as referred to in earlier reviews. We travelled to Coventry FC in our club’s official wheelchair accessible bus. The parking was across a dual carriageway, a significant journey from the wheelchair access to the stadium. There is no dropped kerb from where the coaches park to the slope into the under pass, so wheelchair users have an extended trip round the car park into the on-coming traffic to get to the underpass. (Although where we sat in the stadium was under cover we needed waterproof clothing to reach the stadium from the bus.) On existing the underpass you need to stay on the pavement up to the top of the hill where there is a dropped kerb for you to cross and enter a walk way which takes you down the hill that you have just climbed! It is a significant distance for walking, pushing chairs and for those who find it difficult to self-propel distances/inclines.

To the right of this path is an out of town shopping area with a Tesco superstore and food outlets. I did see steps down to this area and didn’t look but presumed there would also be a slope. We accessed the DeVere stand by the second set of large doors round from the end of the path. The biggest problem for us is that the raised wheelchair area for away fans is only used if they have sold thousands of away tickets. As they sell the away tickets from the opposite end, if there are only a few hundred the away wheelchair users have to sit at pitch level on a slightly raised platform, which although it gives a good view, has no provision for anyone other than another wheelchair user to sit next to you. This meant that to speak or even see my husband (sat raised up about 2 ft behind me) I had to turn my wheelchair side on and due to the narrowness of the platform he could not get to me without physically climbing over other wheelchair users. (There were no carer/PA seats with level access.)

As a consequence we struggled when I needed assistance holding my cup and I was not able to speak to my husband during the match something, which is all the more important as he is visually impaired and Coventry FC do not provide headset match commentaries for the visually impaired.

The narrowness of this platform meant that to go to the toilet in my powerchair I only just managed to get pass another wheelchair user in his manual chair with him turning sideways on, had his chair been any larger or there had been more wheelchair users, everyone would have needed to move off the platform to allow someone out.

Two accessible toilets just round the corner, large and clean but I found the door very heavy. Unlike at some stadiums where stewards seeing you heading in the direction of the loos, they will go and open the door for you, often waiting to assist you on leaving, at the Rioch, the stewards moved out of my way.

Getting refreshments we also found difficult. When my husband first asked, he was told it was up a steep flight of stairs, when he declined, the steward suggested he should bring a carer – he pointed out he was my carer! In fairness another steward then arrived to take him to get refreshments without climbing stairs. He the steward had to wait whilst he bought his drink to get him back through the security door to his seat.

Thankfully after the game the away coaches were allowed to pick up at the stadium so we did not need track back to the car park.

Following our visit I exchanged emails with Dan Wilson the Ticketing Manager at Coventry FC. In fairness to Dan, he thanked me for taking the time to contact him. He informed me that he was aware the provision for away wheelchair fans is not satisfactory, that he is trying to get it changed and emails such as mine were usefully in his efforts to do so. Hence if you similarly are unhappy with your experiences at the Rioch I would suggest you email Dan and hopefully we can shortly have a review detailing how it has improved.

It seems the raised seating areas for wheelchair users that the home fans have and which is made available to away fans when they have sold a lot of tickets are excellent, with carer/PA seating in the usual style next to the wheelchair spaces.

I have had nothing but problems at Coventry City. The parking although excellent is overpriced for disabled people at £10 no deductions are made for accessible parking.

The stewards and Police are appaling, I have had issues with my crutch going into the game and without my crutch have been approached by police telling me that If I am aggresive I will be arrested, no questions asked. Stewards do not allow my crutch into the ground and do not allow me through the side gates and I have to go through turnstiles.

I contacted the club well in advance to reserve a parking space. They told me that although they have 100 spaces, these had all been taken by season ticket holders. My only option was to pay on the day. I explained that I was in a wheelchair and needed to open my door wide and asked if I could reserve a space on the end of a row. They said I couldn’t do this and would have to take whatever spot I was allocated on the day. They also charge £10 with no reductions for disabled.

The club’s car parking arrangements are not satisfactory. Firstly having successfully gained a pre-ordered designated disabled car park for the Swansea game a couple of weeks ago, was told this time that ‘disabled parking bay tickets are only given to season ticket holders’, and consequently wasn’t issued with a disabled pass. Instead however I was given a parking ticket for the away fans car park, the other end of the ground. On the day my carer had to speak to several members of the club’s car parking attendants, most of whom were unhelpful and couldn’t provide any solution to the problem. The problem primarily being that durig the course of the match my carer would need to return to the car for both medical, as well as other practical items and I cannot be left without a carer for this length of time.

Ultimately, following several discussions with car park staff, we were able to park in the nearest car park to the stand in which our seats were, though not in a disabled space, which we were abvised were pre-booked. However when my carer returned to the car at half time could see that there were in fact 2 empty disabled spaces, which we’d been told we couldn’t park in due to the fact that they would be filled. As it goes my carer simply re-parked the car in a vacant disabled spot at half time, the 2nd of which was still empty as we came out at full time.

Despite the club’s claim that there are over 100 spaces for wheel chair supporters, it’s almost impossible to get tickets on a casual basis. I tried to get tickets 3 weeks before this match and there were none available. I have had the same response on several other occasions. I was told that almost all the available spaces were taken up by disabled ticket holders and there was only 1 space available on a casual basis. Ticket staff are helpful and will try to give you tickets close to a disabled space so it’s possible to use the disabled entry ramp to seating.

Part of the problem seems to be created by the way away fans are segregated so that some disabled spaces can’t be used. In a stadium that is usually less than half full it seems a pity that more effort isn’t put into catering for disabled fans who aren’t season ticket holders.

Mid-tier away wheelchair viewing platform

View from lower level wheelchair platform – away fans

View of restricted width platform

We parked a mini-bus in the away supporters coach park (C) which is about a 5 minute walk from the ground under a subway. There are very few dropped kerbs so wheelchair users can take longer. Disabled car parking can be arranged nearer the ground and the police agreed to move us as it would have meant the driver leaving at half time.

The club has 2 positions for away wheelchair users; 1 on the touchline but raised (see picture opposite) and another mid-level. The lower level doesn’t leave much room for manoeuving and could be a problem if there are many wheelchairs wanting to get in and out. The fact that a new stadium needed this temporary structure shows how poor design still takes place.

We were not allowed to use the better mid-level platform (accessed via lift) as Reading didn’t take up the full away allocation – this isn’t right as I would have preffered a more elevated view even if it meant sitting on your own.

The catering facilities were not accessible as at the back of the stand. I didn’t try the accessible WC. Staff were, however, very helpful.

Home fans had elevated mid-level platforms which appeared good.

A couple of colleagues with Ambulant disabilities were handed tickets at the back of the stand despite saying they had an ambulant disability. Luckily, the ground wasn’t full and they were moved but why can’t all clubs allocate specific ambulant seating?