Fans complain of Wembley Stadium bag-drop ‘shambles’ after England match

Authorities said there were more than 73,000 people in attendance.

There were long waits for football fans following an international friendly match at Wembley Stadium, London, on Tuesday night (Nick Potts/PA) (PA Wire)

Football fans claim they were forced to wait for up two hours to retrieve their bags at Wembley Stadium following a friendly match between England and Ivory Coast.

The London venue had notified punters in advance via social media of its new restricted policy preventing bags “larger than an A4 piece of paper”.

But following the match attendees complained of long lines to retrieve their belongings, some saying they were forced to wait for up to two hours.

Twitter user @DavidPLeeMe shared a video from Wembley showing officers from the Metropolitan Police, who were called in to assist, walking down the queue of people holding several bags aloft each in an attempt to hurry up the process of reuniting punters with their belongings.

Another football fan called the incident a “shambles” after he said he was forced to line up for two hours to retrieve his bag. He also shared an image of officers from Met Police who were called in to assist.

Anthony Swain similarly reported waiting two hours to get belongings back. “It was a shambles me and partner missed our coach home due to waiting 2 hours for our bag. No trains! It’s cost us £148 to stay in the premier inn next to ground. @wembleystadium this is not acceptable!” he posted to Twitter.

Another added: “That was honestly the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Can’t believe people have had to pay for that. All should be refunded!”

Londoner Gemma Currie shared a photo of the long line of people waiting to collect bags and said she had waited for an hour and 45 minutes. She added: “There’s at least another 2 hours behind. Come on @wembleystadium this is an absolute joke”.

In the lead-up to the match, Wembley Stadium had shared videos to its social media accounts warning fans about the restricted bag policy for larger items.

According to a tweet posted earlier in the night by the venue, there were more than 73,000 people in attendance at the game.

PA has contacted the FA and the Met for comment.