NETWORK RAIL APOLOGISED TO LIVERPOOL FANS AND SAID IT HAD 'TRIED AND TESTED' PLANS IN PLACE 09:52, 29 May 2025 Network Rail has said it will review what happened at Lime Street

Station after the Liverpool FC parade. The main entrance to the busy rail station on Lime Street was closed, with people having to enter through the side entrance on Skelhorne Street. Photos

from the station that evening show hundreds of people queuing outside over the space of several hours, with many being stranded in Liverpool as they tried to get home. On the same day, a

car ploughed into people on Water Street at around 6pm. A total of 79 people were injured following the crash. Police said yesterday that seven people remain in hospital in a stable

three hours at the station, and claim there was little communication from staff and overcrowding. They said many commuters had no idea what was going on, with no staff or signage telling

them where to queue. Some ended up on trains which were virtually empty while thousands remained stuck outside the station. Others said they should have been told of alternative stations to

catch a train, such as Edge Hill. Steve Miller, 49, who travelled from Lancaster, said: “It was absolute chaos. The queue went all the way around the four sides of the station." When

pressed on the reason behind the issues at the station, mainly the entrances being closed and shutters pulled down on Tuesday, Network Rail declined to go into detail about what happened. It

said: "Yesterday, the tragic incident at Water Street marred what should have been a joyful occasion for the people of Liverpool. We work closely with our train operating partners and

other organisations across the city to plan for events such as this; however, on the day, an unprecedented number of visitors came to the city. "Our priority is always to ensure the

safety of the passengers at our stations, and our staff worked hard to achieve this under difficult circumstances. "We are sorry that people were delayed in getting to where they needed

to be during a distressing time. Our sympathies are with the people affected by the event." The ECHO has since been contacted by more people who said they arrived before the crash and

were still met with queues. One of these Kevin Bracken, 60, from Birmingham travelled up to Liverpool with his partner Linda Martin, who is a Liverpool supporter. He managed to get home

eventually but is furious about what he saw at Lime Street. Kevin told the ECHO: “Getting there from Birmingham was stressful enough. It was rammed. Everyone was shocked about how packed

their trains were. “I thought, we can't risk this, we have to get home, so we stayed close to the station. At about 4pm we went to Hunter Street to see the bus. “As soon as we saw the

bus, we said, we’re going home. We got back to Lime Street at about 5.10pm to 5.15pm. I thought, what’s going on? They’d put the shutters down on the main doors. "People were screaming

to open them. People were queuing for hours, scared to lose their place despite being desperate for the toilet and without food.” “I commend the people that were there. For people to have

waited patiently, they did not deserve to be treated like that. I'm still angry now.” The ECHO asked Network Rail for clarity on why the main entrance was shut, as well as the

complaints about lack of communication from staff, overcrowding and why trains left the station with very few people on board. In a new statement issued to the ECHO, Network Rail said it had

“tried and tested plans” to manage the influx of people, which included closing the main Lime Street entrance. The organisation however said it would be reviewing what happened at Lime

Street so lessons can be learned for future events. A spokesperson said: “Our priority is always to ensure the safety of passengers at our stations, and our staff worked hard to achieve this

under difficult circumstances on Monday. “We saw an unprecedented number of people travelling to and from Lime Street Station to be part of the parade and had tried and tested plans to

manage demand, including closing the Lime Steet entrance and putting a one-way queueing system in place starting at the Skelhorne Street entrance. “The large numbers of people wanting to

travel at the same time significantly impacted on our queuing system, and we are reviewing what happened so we can learn from it in future. Article continues below "We are sorry that

people were delayed in getting to where they needed to be during a distressing time”. On Tuesday, Liverpool City Region metro mayor Steve Rotheram said authorities had to shut down public

transport at Lime Street Station after the parade crash.