FOOTBALL fans planning to travel by train from Oxfordshire to Wembley Stadium to watch tomorrow night's England v Andorra World Cup match will have to find an alternative route.

Chiltern Railways announced tonight that due to safety concerns about overcrowding on its trains during a 48-hour strike over pay by staff on the London Underground, that its services will not be calling at Wembley Stadium station from noon tomorrow until the end of the day.

The rail firm said it had been advised by British Transport Police that because of passengers seeking an alternative route to the stadium, due to the closure of the Underground network, crowd numbers at Wembley Stadium station could potentially be unsafe.

A Chiltern spokesman said: "The safety of both our regular passengers, and the additional travellers using our services because of the strike, is paramount, and we therefore have taken the difficult decision to withdraw services to Wembley.

"Unfortunately, this will also affect the evening journey of those who commute to and from Wembley Stadium station.


"The Football Association has advised that refunds will be made available to ticketholders who decide not to attend this game, because of the Tube strike."

  • First Great Western has announced that for the duration of the strike, which is due to continue until 7pm on Thursday, that it will honour advance purchase tickets for travel from London Paddington station for two hours either side of the stated time of travel.

The company is also planning to make extra cycle storage spaces available in the power cars of High Speed Train services operating between Oxford and London Paddington tomorrow, to help commuters who want to cycle to work in the capital.