Yahoo News Eminem at Twickenham: Fans forced to wait in TWO-HOUR queues to get their bags back after gig
Twickenham Stadium bosses have apologised after Eminem fans were forced to face two-hour long queues to collect their bags.
Concert-goers were hit with a second blow of frustration as they neared the front of the line to find thousands of bags had been "dumped" on the floor to be collected.
A spokesman has promised the chaos that erupted after the rapper's show on Saturday will not happen again.
Fans who had taken “over-sized” bags into the venue where forced to store their belongings in a cloakroom before the show due to security policies.
Anyone going to see @Eminem’s #RevivalTour today at #TwickenhamStadium - DON’T TAKE A LARGE BAG WITH U! U’ll be made to put it in their “bag drop off point”, which is basically 4 shipping containers where u have to collect it from after the show! The queues were so unorganised!
— ❥ TXI (@mstxi) July 15, 2018
Furious music lovers claimed on Twitter that people were left waiting in queues for “hours” and that “fights nearly broke out” as people struggled to reclaim their belongings.
Yaz Reevell said: “Absolutely appalled with the bag drop off service last night at @Eminem concert at Twickenham Stadium.
“My mum has had her bag stolen because the security were just throwing bags anywhere for people to grab. It has a lot of valuable things in.”
@LiveNationUK Absolutely appalled with the bag drop off service last night at @Eminem concert at Twickenham Stadium. My mum has had her bag stolen because the security were just throwing bags anywhere for people to grab. It has a lot of valuable things in.
— Yaz Reevell (@YazReevell) July 15, 2018
Jessica Bacon added: “Completely agree, my son was forced to miss transport home due to lack of organisation when collecting his bag!!
“#Twickenham #Eminem #outofpocket this ruined what should have been a fantastic night that he saved for..... what a joke!!”
Fans complained that there was a lack of organisation at the pick up point where they could collect their bags.
Poor form at Twickers last night for Eminem. No consistency with allowed bag sizes and the bag drop off, was a disgraceful mess/free-for-all. Pointless putting tickets on bags, if no staff are there to monitor it. Bags could've been easily stolen! #twickenhamstadium #Eminem
— SkinnyMin Dougal@rse (@Delji13) July 15, 2018
Tom Rosher, 21, from West London told The Sun: “The officials had no clue. They were just standing there like headless chickens."
He continued: “Who thought it would be a good idea to have six members of staff, monitoring containers which had thousands of people's belongings?
"When I asked [security] what happened one said 'It's not my fault, it's not my fault, I'm new'. Another said 'I'm not paid enough to deal with this."
@theSESGROUP @Eminem 60,000 capacity in Twickenham and everyone’s ‘oversized’ bags held in 3 containers in one spot, that have no light, no organisation and Eminem finished over an hour ago....disgrace! pic.twitter.com/tLGhiSVAGg
— Henry Limming (@Limming23) July 14, 2018
In guidelines issued before the show, officials said: “Eminem along with his touring partners and Twickenham Stadium strongly encourages fans to not bring any type of bags to this show.
"Fans however will be able to carry... small clutch bags approximately A5 size with or without a handle or strap."
A spokesman for Twickenham Stadium said: “In line with the policy set for this event, fans were advised not to bring bags with them.
"On the night there was a limited bag drop facility available operated by the promoter. Unfortunately this did not meet our usual standards.
"We’d like to apologise to all those who were impacted. We worked with the promoter and had a new process for tonight’s show to ensure this doesn’t happen again."
