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Big Problem with the Entry Queue's!


chugs
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Hi All,

 

I really enjoyed the weekend and met all of the my favorite guests (including the Brilliant David Tennant!) but was really annoyed when I found this out and thought I should share this info with all of the fans of these events!

 

I had taken the time to pre-order my tickets like usual for The Entertainment Media Show months ago.

As like a lot of other people paying early, it cost me for two tickets at an Early Bird price (and incuding postage and packing) £26.50 in all.

I dont mind paying that as it means I will be one of the first people to come in amongst the others who have payed early (or so I thought). I also know that there where four queue's at the event, one with people with gold passes, one with people who had bought Early Bird tickets online (me), one for paying Early on the day, and another paying standerd after 11am.

 

So thats fair - right?

 

So why did I later find out that EVERY QUEUE was let in at THE SAME TIME at 9am!! :D

 

Freinds of mine at the event who had chosen not to pay online but on the day (early and after 11am) had all been let in at 9am - some of them reaching the vt tickets lines before me! One who which had a ticket in the 60's for David Tennant, but a guy like me who had bothered to pay early and started to que at around 7.30am to get to the David Tennant que ended up with ticket 350! I told other fans on the day about this predicament (who where all disgusted) and all suggested that I should make a point of this on the Showmasters forum.

 

So I have, please show your support for this because if this is the case I will just pay £6 on the day and not bother to pre-book.

 

Best,

 

Chugs-in-credible

Edited by chugs-in-credible
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To be fair, I think it was a one-off mistake.

 

The EC crew (yellow shirts and such) had pretty much NO IDEA what they were doing most of the weekend. So I'm actually not suprised some 11am ticket holders got in before then.

 

Although why they even tried shows that they wernt the most honest people either :D

 

 

 

As for pre-booked/on the day early's and gold passes, they always go in at the same time.

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the venue security and traffic staff screwed up again, combination of another event on at the same time using the same entrance and most likely them not caring about the differences in queues, not showmasters fault. I hear jason got it sorted as fast as was possible.

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It's just if you have 200 prepaid and 20 pay on the day, the 20th will be in before the 200th if they all have the exact money ready.

 

I often don't prepay. I did this year (bought on the Saturday) and was there at 6.25. So I was amused that a friend of mine who arrived at 8.40 was exactly behind me going up the stairs. Amused, not annoyed.

 

Not like I had anything better to do at 6.25.

 

And even then I overslept.

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As others have said the queues to pre-paid Early Bird ticket holders and the people who purchase Early Bird tickets on the day are let in at exactly the same time. The ticket type is exactly the same and allows entry to the event over the same time period. It is just that some choose to purchase in advance, while others wait until the day.

 

Gold Pass holders are normally let in a few minutes earlier.

 

It's the first I have heard of Standards being let in at 9am though. The ones with pre-paid Standard tickets would (should) have been refused entry as the tickets are different to EB's and are checked on entry. If pay-on-the-day Standards were let in at 9am then they would have had to pay the Early Bird Price of £12. They wouldn't be allowed entry by paying £6 at 9am .

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It was apparently over-zealous EC security who didnt't get the memo, who started changing things.

 

It happened again sort of on the Sunday morning, where by they didn't tell anyone not to queue right outside the door, and to move up round the corner. The guy wasn't interested in maintaining the queue order until those who were in the queue took control.

 

Far as I'm concerned this was nothing to do with SM, but it was EC staff who should have had signs up saying do not queue right at the door.

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Yeah I hope everyone knows the yellow-staff were NOT SM crew at all, but Earls Court's own.

 

Im glad that has been cleared up. The EC staff were very rude. During the afternoon when the sun was at its hottest one of these EC guys told everyone to get off the steps...The steps were the only place where there was any shade!

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They were rude, but if there is a Health and Safety Reason ( which I suspect there could be ) for not queuing or sitting at the door, it's their responsibility to put approp signs up advising of this.

 

After those queuing took over the Sunday morning situation, the guy that told us to move wasn't seen again....

 

Either way, I suspect there'll be more than a few words said about the Earls Court Security team behind the scenes.

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It is true the EC staff did cause a fair amount of confusion on Sunday what with the entrances being changed and all but hopefully everyone still had a great day. It sounds like this was the main problem for most people which in contrast doesn't actually sound too bad considering all the things that could've gone wrong. It's an example of an issue that could've gotten alot worse but luckily everyone got in. Hopefully next time it won't be a problem. I think they we're just confused.

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The people in yellow shirts are stewards and door license holders for a security company called showsec. I only know this because my mum works for the north east branch. Anyway they technically aren't ec staff, they just steward events that happen in the hall. The EC staff i spoke to were lovely :) they were wearing dark tshirts :)

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So why did I later find out that EVERY QUEUE was let in at THE SAME TIME at 9pm!! :blush:

 

Freinds of mine at the event who had chosen not to pay online but on the day (early and after 11pm) had all been let in at 9pm -

 

 

I'm surprised they were let in at all at that time.

 

Just out of curiousity you do know AM is morning and PM is afternoon/evening/night right? I only ask because you made the mistake 3 times.

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The people in yellow shirts are stewards and door license holders for a security company called showsec. I only know this because my mum works for the north east branch. Anyway they technically aren't ec staff, they just steward events that happen in the hall. The EC staff i spoke to were lovely :) they were wearing dark tshirts :)

 

That makes sense I mean if they're a security group I wouldn't think that their responsibilities extended beyond allowing entry through the main entrance and patrolling the venue to make sure no trouble. The Saturday Staff at EC were brilliant and as for Sunday I get how it could be a little annoying that early in the morning but to tell the truth the day was so awesome it kinda made up for it.

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So why did I later find out that EVERY QUEUE was let in at THE SAME TIME at 9pm!! :blush:

 

Freinds of mine at the event who had chosen not to pay online but on the day (early and after 11pm) had all been let in at 9pm -

 

 

I'm surprised they were let in at all at that time.

 

Just out of curiousity you do know AM is morning and PM is afternoon/evening/night right? I only ask because you made the mistake 3 times.

 

Hi,

 

Sorry about the error - all fixed.

 

Chugs-in-credible

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Surely it's not too difficult to have one entry queue that you can only join if you actually have a ticket in hand. If you don't have a ticket, you queue to buy a ticket, then when you have a ticket you join the mian queue with everyone else - no one loses out then, especially if on the day tickets go on sale from say 8am...

 

Just an idea - I've seen this system in effect for other events of various kinds and no one has ever complained about getting in after people who turn up hours after they do.

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Surely it's not too difficult to have one entry queue that you can only join if you actually have a ticket in hand. If you don't have a ticket, you queue to buy a ticket, then when you have a ticket you join the mian queue with everyone else - no one loses out then, especially if on the day tickets go on sale from say 8am...

 

This makes sense. After all, everyone in the photo op queues have paid the same money for the same thing, and then we're all put in in order of when we bought our tickets.......

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The people in yellow shirts are stewards and door license holders for a security company called showsec. I only know this because my mum works for the north east branch. Anyway they technically aren't ec staff, they just steward events that happen in the hall. The EC staff i spoke to were lovely :) they were wearing dark tshirts :)

 

That makes sense I mean if they're a security group I wouldn't think that their responsibilities extended beyond allowing entry through the main entrance and patrolling the venue to make sure no trouble. The Saturday Staff at EC were brilliant and as for Sunday I get how it could be a little annoying that early in the morning but to tell the truth the day was so awesome it kinda made up for it.

 

I only posted that in case anybody was planning on putting a complaint in against the staff and got the wrong company.

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They were rude, but if there is a Health and Safety Reason ( which I suspect there could be ) for not queuing or sitting at the door, it's their responsibility to put approp signs up advising of this.

 

After those queuing took over the Sunday morning situation, the guy that told us to move wasn't seen again....

 

Either way, I suspect there'll be more than a few words said about the Earls Court Security team behind the scenes.

 

The thing is an hour or two later when we returned to EC LOADS of people were sitting on the steps and no one was told to move...so what exactly was the difference? :P I think some people just like to know they can tell people to move and they have to...power crazy

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I think it's perfectly fair and reasonable to allow both queues in at the same time. The advantage is that the pre pay queue will move a LOT faster than the pay on the door queue (especially given entry is £12, meaning either people have the right money, or there is faffing about with change!)

 

If you let in pre pay first, then maybe more people would pre pay, but that means that anyone arriving nearer 9 would be WAY WAY WAY further down the queue, even if they pre paid.

 

Does anyone know which queue was longer at 9?

 

I've been to events (mentioning no names), where all pre pay go in first, meaning that although I arrived just after 6 am and the door opened at 9, I didn't actually get in until after 10.30!

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They were rude, but if there is a Health and Safety Reason ( which I suspect there could be ) for not queuing or sitting at the door, it's their responsibility to put approp signs up advising of this.

 

After those queuing took over the Sunday morning situation, the guy that told us to move wasn't seen again....

 

Either way, I suspect there'll be more than a few words said about the Earls Court Security team behind the scenes.

 

The thing is an hour or two later when we returned to EC LOADS of people were sitting on the steps and no one was told to move...so what exactly was the difference? :D I think some people just like to know they can tell people to move and they have to...power crazy

 

 

I know this is petty but it was the steps on the left and right entrance doors (the ones that were used for the queues) as these were the ones used for access/exit - the steps in the middle were fine to sit on, although I agree some of the Showsec staff could have been politer about it.

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They were rude, but if there is a Health and Safety Reason ( which I suspect there could be ) for not queuing or sitting at the door, it's their responsibility to put approp signs up advising of this.

 

After those queuing took over the Sunday morning situation, the guy that told us to move wasn't seen again....

 

Either way, I suspect there'll be more than a few words said about the Earls Court Security team behind the scenes.

 

The thing is an hour or two later when we returned to EC LOADS of people were sitting on the steps and no one was told to move...so what exactly was the difference? :D I think some people just like to know they can tell people to move and they have to...power crazy

 

 

I know this is petty but it was the steps on the left and right entrance doors (the ones that were used for the queues) as these were the ones used for access/exit - the steps in the middle were fine to sit on, although I agree some of the Showsec staff could have been politer about it.

 

 

 

Yes, however While we sat down for at least 20 mins no one used these doors to either enter or exit. Infact the vast martority used the door on the small walkway to enter and the other doors to the right of where i was sitting to exit. If it was such a prblem n why a few hours laer didnt the same guy move people hena there were more people at that time...Just rude and proberly thought he was more important than he actually was.

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They were rude, but if there is a Health and Safety Reason ( which I suspect there could be ) for not queuing or sitting at the door, it's their responsibility to put approp signs up advising of this.

 

After those queuing took over the Sunday morning situation, the guy that told us to move wasn't seen again....

 

Either way, I suspect there'll be more than a few words said about the Earls Court Security team behind the scenes.

 

The thing is an hour or two later when we returned to EC LOADS of people were sitting on the steps and no one was told to move...so what exactly was the difference? :headscratch: I think some people just like to know they can tell people to move and they have to...power crazy

I don't think it's a huge stretch to imagine that any large public building has to have numerous plans in place for emergency evacuation, and that one of the legal requirements for continued licensing and operating of the venue is that exits which may potentially be used in an emergency must be kept clear - meaning not stacking piles of furniture in front of them, or allowing people to block them - had there been a need for rapid evacuation you only need a couple of people to be a bit slow getting off the steps and you could end up with a tragic pile-up with people being trampled etc.

I don't think that needs signs, I think it's plain common sense.

It's also not a huge stretch to imagine that some people may be more efficient or unforgiving at enforcing that policy. You might view it as power crazy. others might view it as just being more responsible or aware of the potential problems. I suspect that were you trapped inside a burning building and couldn't get out because the doors were jammed with trampled bodies where the fiirst wave of people rushing to get out had fallen over people blocking the exit, you'd be cursing the fact that there hadn't been some "power crazy" person keeping the exit clear...

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They were rude, but if there is a Health and Safety Reason ( which I suspect there could be ) for not queuing or sitting at the door, it's their responsibility to put approp signs up advising of this.

 

After those queuing took over the Sunday morning situation, the guy that told us to move wasn't seen again....

 

Either way, I suspect there'll be more than a few words said about the Earls Court Security team behind the scenes.

 

The thing is an hour or two later when we returned to EC LOADS of people were sitting on the steps and no one was told to move...so what exactly was the difference? ;) I think some people just like to know they can tell people to move and they have to...power crazy

I don't think it's a huge stretch to imagine that any large public building has to have numerous plans in place for emergency evacuation, and that one of the legal requirements for continued licensing and operating of the venue is that exits which may potentially be used in an emergency must be kept clear - meaning not stacking piles of furniture in front of them, or allowing people to block them - had there been a need for rapid evacuation you only need a couple of people to be a bit slow getting off the steps and you could end up with a tragic pile-up with people being trampled etc.

I don't think that needs signs, I think it's plain common sense.

It's also not a huge stretch to imagine that some people may be more efficient or unforgiving at enforcing that policy. You might view it as power crazy. others might view it as just being more responsible or aware of the potential problems. I suspect that were you trapped inside a burning building and couldn't get out because the doors were jammed with trampled bodies where the fiirst wave of people rushing to get out had fallen over people blocking the exit, you'd be cursing the fact that there hadn't been some "power crazy" person keeping the exit clear...

 

 

Your missing the point. If it was sssssoooo important to keep the doors clear then why only 2 hours later didnt the same very rude member of staff not move everyone again? The simple fact is that the building wasnt burning down,i wasnt on fire and people were not falling over anyone to get out. The plain and simple fact is the guy clearly had an attitude problem and loved telling people in the rudest way possible to move. All the guy had to do is ask people politely if they could move further down the steps....it really is that simple. See, no burning buildings or people on fire trying to get out. Or was there somekind of Zombie invasion taking place at Earls court that yourself and the rude EC staff member would like to prepare us for?

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