Notts County

I am a powerchair user and my husband is a white cane user, we attended the game as away fans. We travelled on an accessible coach that is part of our Club’s official away travel. I see my last review of Meadow Lane was in 2014 when I said it was our 5th visit. Not sure if we have been in the intervening years but I have to say that not much has changed in that time!

Arrival and Entry to the Ground
The coach parked outside the away entrance which is down one of the long sides of the ground. The pavement here is extremely wide so there was no problem dropping the lift on the side of the coach once the driver had positioned the coach far enough away from the kerb for this to happen. The distance then into the ground through large doors was literally a couple of feet into the back of the stand. The route to the wheelchair spaces was then, turn to the left end of this area, out through a door, right and right again to get to the front of the away stand.

Seating Area
As I have previously described the wheelchair seating area in the away end is at pitch level. Wheelchair users sit in front of the first row of seats which are available for carers/companions. It is one of the widest spaces I have seen between the front row of seats and the pitch, which reduces the possibility of us getting overwhelmed if there is a surge forward of fans and this was certainly not going to be an issue as the non-disabled fans were not allowed in the seats immediately behind us and had no access to pitch level, so the disabled fans had exclusive use of this space all afternoon. It felt extremely safe, particularly at the end of the match which is when the fans normally surge forward into the space at pitch level. We observed two changes since our last visit. One was the height of the barrier at pitch level had increased due to the installation of electronic advertising boards which are higher than the original barrier and just obscure the clear view of wheelchair users (we have experienced this at other grounds). Notts County were clearly aware of this for at the far end of this area they had installed a relatively small raised platform (see photo), great idea, except the ramp they had used to give wheelchair access to it was so steep, I knew by just looking at it my 6-wheel, mid-drive powerchair would not go up it. As I was told “we have not had any problems with it all season” I tried it to prove my point and as I knew, my powerchair would not go up it and given the weight of the chair I declined offers to push me. As it was, myself and another powerchair user had our own solutions as our chairs have seat risers and our companions were happy to stand next to us for the match (there was no one behind us to have their view obscured). The ramp was used successfully by someone in a manual wheelchair but someone else on a small mobility scooter suffered the same fate as me. Having observed two people on walking frames struggle up and down the ramp which had got wet when it rained, I informed the supervisor that I considered it was slippery and dangerous for disabled fans to use. He told me it would be removed for next season. If they considered it dangerous perhaps it should go immediately or be cordoned off.

Audio Match Commentary
Having been told previously that this was no longer available, when my husband mentioned it to the Supervisor, he undertook to check and subsequently produced a mini radio and earphones. It was local radio and not an audio described commentary but my husband said it was fair and very helpful which he was grateful for.

Accessible Toilet
Two wheelchair accessible toilets in a portacabin in the area (shared with home fans) that you pass through to re-enter the away stand to get to the wheelchair seating area. They had definitely been updated since our last visit. The biggest issue for me was getting toilet paper out of the holder which was positioned too far back for you to use once you were sat on the loo and due to the size and weight of the roll, you could only get little scraps before it ripped. This is a common problem in accessible toilets but it is a pain. Cubicles good size and clean but no hot water and annoying lip into them which initially spun my wheels.

Catering
We gave up on this as it seemed too far away and too difficult to get to.

Stewards
We had one steward exclusively to our area who remained with us throughout the game. She showed a real insight into our experiences as disabled fans. She responded gently to everyone particularly the disabled children we had with us and was keen to help everyone in any way she could. Everyone spoke highly of her. She efficiently summoned the Supervisor when I requested them and he too was helpful and constructive. I did hear after the match that some stewards had been reluctant to let family members in the top of the stand come down to where the disabled fans were and this had caused a few issues.

Leaving the Stadium
As the disabled fans had their own area at the front of the stand we had no problems leaving at the end and our coach was waiting for us where we had got off it, right outside the away end which was much appreciated. We left the area without returning to the route we had used to get to the stadium and were away quickly without any delay.

Overall
There must have been about 20 of us disabled away fans and our companions in the area set aside for away wheelchair fans, fans with a variety of needs both visible and not. In the 14 years I have been going to away matches, I have never seen such a high number of our disabled fans at an away game. With the exclusive safe space, it produced I thought a lovely sense of togetherness for us all and a real show of travelling disabled fans in the lower leagues when we so often hear from Clubs, “we rarely get away wheelchair fans”. Even the sun shone on us and none of the usual cold wind off the Trent. Thank you Notts County for providing this space for us which was really appreciated by your disabled visitors.

Great welcome from all the staff at the match. Arranged by Tim when we bought tickets. Thanks to Richard and all the St John team for the alternative ‘changing place’ arrangements.
Sue and Terry with the scarf and badge memorabilia stall were very friendly.

I bought our tickets from York City & I telephoned Notts County for a parking space. This was in Meadow Lane, over the road from the ground at a £5 charge and they posted the parking permit out to me.

We had a meal at “The Waters Edge” a Fayre & Square pub a few minutes away from the ground.

Arriving at the ground, program sellers were outside & the shop was wheelchair friendly.

We entered through a large gate at the away end, no problems, and the stewards were exceptionally helpful & friendly.

There was a refreshment bar & disabled toilets in the concourse at the rear of the seating.

We sat infront of our own supporters pitchside with an excellent view and there was loads of room for wheelchairs and carers.

The Stewards were helpful & kept making sure we were ok & if we needed anything.

I agree with previous comments that we would have got very wet if it rained as the roof of the stand wasn’t above us. But it was a warm sunny day & we were pleased we had our sunglasses as the sun was directly infront of us.

Our 4th visit in successive seasons as away fans to Meadow Lane. As I have already written two reviews (January 2014 and 2012) I will keep this review just to details I have not already covered.

On this visit we sat for over an hour in pouring rain. Even with waterproofs this was a pretty unpleasant experience. As all the able-bodied fans were in the dry and I paid the same price for my ticket, I felt this was pretty unfair. Other Clubs we visit where the only area for wheelchair users is in the rain whilst able-bodied fans are in the dry, reduce the cost of our tickets to reflect this. I therefore emailed the Box Office Manager at Notts County after the game to ask their views on this discrepancy. Whilst I thought his first response was too general, in response to my second email he did accept that a raised platform undercover would be ideal for wheelchair fans but this would be an expensive improvement. He did undertake to bring my email to the attention of the Club’s Chief Executive and Board of Directors so they could review their ticket pricing but said that it was in line with the guidelines of recognised authorities. In the light of my experience, I would say any wheelchair user going to Meadow Lane needs to take good waterproofs, as if it rains, you will get very wet.

In view of my experience I would also say don’t buy a hot chocolate drink at Meadow Lane, mine was the worst I have ever had! It was like coloured water with brown concrete at the bottom that refused to be stirred.

Be careful in the right hand accessible loo. It is all too easy to hold onto the hand basin when getting on and off the loo, the hand basin is hanging off the wall, it really wouldn’t take much for it to come crashing down.

We checked the Notts County web page prior to going and noticed there was no mention of headset commentaries for visually impaired fans so we presume this service is no longer available at Meadow Lane. They did tell us on our last visit that there was no longer any call for it.

We didn’t see Helen, the lovely steward on this visit, the stewards we did meet were very friendly but none came to check on us after the rain started towards the end of the lst half. I did notice that a teenager who goes to our home games but not to away ones was attending, I presume a Christmas treat, he left long before the end of the second half. I guess because he was so wet. I would think he will not now be keen to go to another away game, which I consider to be a real shame.

This is our 4th visit to Meadow Lane, and nothing has changed. Level access to the ground, coaches parked across the road from the ground at the away end. It is one of the most friendly clubs to visit. Helen the Steward makes everyone welcome and provides blankets to keep us all warm as it is a very cold area and not under cover. The toilets are clean but no hot water, no emergency pull cord either, and no recepticle for the paper towels. The wheelchairs are at the front of the away stand at pitch level. It is a ground we love to go to.

Had a great experience at this match and attended with two supporters who have learning disability and one with limited mobility, but not a wheelchair user and two helpers. We had pre-booked a blue badge space but had not received any directions to help us find the car park. After several circuits of the ground and the one way system we eventually found our car park with assistance from some friendly police officers. It was a little walk to the away stand with one busy road to cross.

We were allowed to all enter through an accessible gate once our needs were explained, initially only the supporter with physical needs was given permission but this was quickly resolved. We then went into the crowded small concourse and realised that our seats were only accessible via stairs so spoke to a steward who directed us to another steward at the end of the concourse. From there we were taken around the side of the stand to the accessible area at the front of the stand and advised we could sit on any seat in the area. We had a very good unobstructed view of the pitch alongside wheelchair users and found the stewards to be very friendly and helpful.

Little to add to our previous review on our last visit to Notts County. Major change was that Helen, the steward who had made us so welcome on previous visits was no longer stewarding our area but the stewards who dealt with us were all friendly and helpful. Having read the other review on LPF about a visit by away fans I can honestly say that we have never experienced any of those difficulties in the 3 visits we have made to Notts County but then we have not been visiting with Premier League numbers. I used the far accessible toilet and there was a working lock on that door. Something I experienced new this time was the access through to the refreshments behind the accessible loos, again when there were just a few hundred visiting fans getting served in this area did not seem a problem. We telephoned the club a few days before to ask for the Soccer Sight headset for my visually impaired husband, which we had had before. As it was a constant answering machine, we left a message, asking for confirmation. No one got back to us. We noticed on the Notts County web site it stated requests should be made 2-weeks before. We have never seen this here or at any other ground. This was confirmed by the steward we spoke to but my husband was still lent a personal radio to pick up the local radio commentary. Not as specific but better than nothing. Meadow Lane does seem to be a generally difficult ground to find from the motorway, two out of 3 of our drivers have taken wrong turns. The impression I have is that it is in an area of light industries with no other facilities nearby (there is a burger van serving near to the away end). As it is close to the River Trent I am sure the wind blows directly off the water as it always seems very cold – wrap up warm!

I went to the game with my Support Dog Dougal and my Daughter, we travelled by coach which parked at Nottingham Forests ground which was on the other side of the river trent, we had a long walk from there which required walking up some steep steps and over a Bridge to the Notts County ground, going back to the coach we had a longer walk but no steps as they were blocked off by the police, obviously this could cause problems for people with walking difficulties or those pushing a person in a wheelchair We arrived at the ground and went to the turnstyle number on our ticket, we couldn’t gain access there as Dougie( my Support Dog) can’t go through turnstyles so a steward took us round to a gate, but we had to go through a home section of the ground and through a gate to get to the away section We were shown to our seats which were on the front row, there were other Ambulent Disabled supporters in that section and wheelchair users and their carers also other supporters My Daughter went to the refreshment area and had great difficulty getting served the sheer numbers of people on the concorse meant it would have been impossible for ambulent disabled and wheelchair users to access safely. The toilets were accessable through a gate into the home section, they were clean and dry but they didn’t have a lock, this proved embarrassing when my carer and myself both walked in on supporters using the facilities, also there were only two for what appeared to be two stands The other noticable thing was that for such a high profile game against premier league opposition there seemed to be a serious lack of Stewards, in the first half this didn’t appear to be a problem, however more and more supporters started to come down to the front of the stand gathering beyond the front row of seats, causing a congestion paricularly in the area where Disabled Supporters were, this obviously then affected peoples view of the game, had there been a sufficient number of stewards this could have been averted, because it wasn’t my carer and myself felt that it wasn’t safe to stay where we were, mainly because of Dougal, so we moved to near the corner flag, as I expected when City scored there was a problem where we had been originally standing and it then took the police and available stewards time to sort it out I feel it might have been a good Idea for Notts County to ask Manchester City to provide extra stewards for the game, I think this happened at Blackpool earlier in the season Despite all of the above which I hope is helpful we had a really good day, the Stewards were friendly and welcoming and there was good banter with the Notts County fans

This was my 2nd visit to Notts County as an away fan. Excellent experience on both occasions. Club allows us to park the wheelchair accessible mini-bus that we travel in right outside the entrance we use, so getting in and out is easy. Away wheelchair fans sit at the front of the away stand at pitch level. Unlimited room and easy access to the 2 disabled loos. Our visit to Notts County would not be complete without Helen, who is the liaison steward for disabled fans, she is a real character, has always made a real point of welcoming us and making us feel really welcome. At our most recent visit she was telling us about the improvements she is hoping the club will make for disabled fans. Whilst we consider the facilities are already excellent, the way she was talking showed she had a real understanding of our experiences. Helen is a real treasure. Notts County provide Soccer Sight headset commentaries for fans with sight impairments, which significantly increase the match experience for my husband. When we arrived last month, Helen immediately apologised that there was a problem with the Service which they had been unable to resolve in time for the match. As a result she insisted that our ticket price would be refunded. We did not ask for this. First class.