This evening (Thursday September the 25th, 2025) I returned to Witton Lane railway station near Birmingham, just over 2 weeks after my horrible experience at the station following England’s FIFA World Cup qualifier with Andorra at villa park.
As many of you reading this will know the stadium is situated a 5 to 10 minute walk or wheel away from the railway station which I have used for a number of years when travelling to and from events in the area.
After leaving the stadium at the full-time whistle following Aston Villa’s first europa league tie against Italian side Bologna I headed to Witton ready to get the train back into the centre of Birmingham.
I was primed and ready to experience the worst once I had made it into the queuing system with fellow supporters just outside of the station on Witton lane.
However the experience was incredible and the staff from WMT (West Midlands Trains) were incredible and ensured that I was able to board the train safely with ease when it arrived at the station.
The station platforms have a capacity of just over 100 people at any one time following events like these, in all the years that I have been making this journey there has only been a couple occasions where I have stayed at matches until end.
On arriving at the entrance to the station I could see the ramp due to the lack of supporters that were around at the time, which was great to see
I didnt feel claustrophobic at any point whilst on the ramp or platform.
Read more about my experience at Witton following England vs Andorra here: https://just-being-cp.co.uk/2025/09/06/england-vs-andorra-should-have-an-occasion-to-remember-instead-it-turned-into-a-nightmare/
My experience after the England international earlier this month was a one off incident that I don’t believe will be repeated in the future.
If you would like to book your assisted travel ahead of time, this can be done up to 2 hours before departure in 1 of 3 ways:
By Phone: 0800 024 8998 or by using Next Generation Text – 18001 0800 024 8998.
Online: https://booking.passengerassistance.com.
By using the App: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/passenger-assistance/id1542190496.
However you do have a legal right to just turn up and go without booking any assistance prior to travel.
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A special shout out must go to Chloe and Glen from WMT who were incredible tonight & made me feel at ease whilst waiting for my train back into Birmingham.
Thank you to each and everyone of you, my regular loyal readers and social media followers who continually take the time out of your busy schedules to read my latest posts, it doesn’t go unnoticed and is of course very much appreciated.
Cam
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