Did it make you feel better insulting our elderly supporters?Alpine Joe wrote:Mid Devon In the interests of health and safety the smokers are forced not to smoke, and those who fancy a drink have their bottle tops removed etc etc. It's a pity that in the name of safety Stewards cannot also insist that those with walking sticks be forced to leave the grandstand after those capable of leaving more quickly. There are lots of things you may wish to do inside Plainmoor but are not allowed to e.g light a fag, take a photo...maybe the right to hold everyone else up should be added to that list.
I know Mid Devon appeals to common sense in wondering why the more infirm don't hang on for a few minutes to let the youngsters go by, but that just isn't going to work. How many times have any of us been stood in the central aisle of a coach unable to get off as the elderly stand in the gangway, fussing around with coats, handbags, luggage in overhead racks etc. Requesting them to stay in their seats for an extra thirty seconds while those ready to get straight off can do so will fall on deaf (literally in some cases) ears, and they won't behave any more sensibly on 'The Bench' than they do at the end of a coach trip.
Therefore, reluctantly, I see no alternative to handrails unless we give stewards the authority to say 'sit down you old fool' to those doddery members of the OAP army who relish causing a human traffic jam.
Hopefully these rails can be incorporated without effecting spectators sightlines when looking to the left or right. Of course an enclosure for the elderly, just as we provide a separate stand for families, and an area for the disabled, might have been another possibility.....but more likely than not we'll end up with rails and be held up just as long as before, the only change being that those causing the congestion can do so in the happy knowledge that they're no longer jeopardizing their own safety
Shame on you.