Fans reminded about tram suspension ahead of Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds United game

Transport bosses have reminded football fans about a tram suspension around the Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds United game this weekend.
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Stagecoach Supertram announced the suspension to warn passengers there will be no trams between Sheffield city centre and Hillsborough on Saturday, October 26, for a period before and after the game.

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The firm said when Leeds played at Hillsborough last season trams were vandalised, staff intimidated and subjected to ‘physical and verbal assaults’ and services had to be suspended.

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One man was arrested for assaulting a police constable, another for breach of the peace and the third for being drunk and disorderly.

The transport operator said trams will not operate between Cathedral, Middlewood and Malin Bridge between about 10.30am and 12:30pm and 1:30pm to 3:30pm.

A revised timetable is available on the Stagecoach website.

Tram suspension.Tram suspension.
Tram suspension.

In a statement, they said: “On Saturday 26 October 2019 Sheffield Wednesday host Leeds United, a fixture which last year saw serious incidents including vandalism and damage to our trams, and more seriously intimidation to our staff with physical and verbal assaults. This resulted in our services having to be suspended due to safety concerns.

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“Following this, Supertram jointly met with Sheffield Wednesday and South Yorkshire Police to discuss how safety could be improved for fans, regular tram users and our employees in order to avoid similar conflicts occurring in future matches.

“Recommendations were made in terms of how potentially difficult fixtures could be managed including reduced away tickets and options to manage the transport of away fans. Unfortunately for the above fixture none of these have been supported by Sheffield Wednesday.

“In light of this and following discussions with South Yorkshire Police, we have regretfully had to take the difficult decision to suspend tram services between the City Centre and Hillsborough for a period of time prior to the game and after the game.”