An S Club concert goer claims to have "never felt more unsafe" after the M&S Bank Arena was evacuated in chaos following reports of a "fire".
Ross Flanagan said the M&S Bank Arena descended into chaos after it was plunged into darkness and people were asked to evacuate following an incident. The 28-year-old from Aintree told the ECHO it "was lucky it was not a serious emergency" as he criticised the arena's evacuation protocols.
Mr Flanagan, who attended last night's rearranged concert with his wife, said he was sat in row N of the arena when "the stage shut off". Speaking to the ECHO on Tuesday, October 31, he said: "The mics went off, the music stopped and the arena was in darkness.
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"An announcement went off – I can't remember what it exactly said but it was along the lines that a fire had been detected. Everyone did the right thing and started moving towards the exits. We were about four or five metres from the fire exit but we got turned around. People in front of us were told we weren't allowed out of those exits.
"We moved onto the next exit but were again told we were not allowed out of it. We had to walk from the front of the arena to the back to evacuate. At one point a light came on the stage and people started panicking thinking it was a fire, but it was just a stage light.
"I saw people's faces and some were crying and shaking. It took us 10 minutes to fully get out. I've never felt more unsafe than I did at that moment."
Mr Flanagan said after the venue was plunged into darkness, no emergency lights came on so concert goers had to use their phone torches to navigate their route out. He added when he eventually managed to get out the arena, he was outside for a short while before stewards told him he could go back in.
But he told the ECHO that there was no security or bag checks when people came back into the arena so "anyone could have just walked in off the street". He described the concert as "brilliant", but added: "The atmosphere was very different when we were allowed back in."
S Club were originally due to perform earlier this month but the show was postponed due to "an unforeseen technical issue impacting power supply". The conduct of S Club, which now comprises of five members, was described as "excellent" by Mr Flanagan.
Following the evacuation last night, one concert goer told the ECHO it was "handled appallingly". They added: "The quietest voice announcement to begin with, an evacuation conducted in darkness, zero communication or decisiveness with some staff advising people wouldn't be able to get back in."
And Mr Flanagan said he wanted to raise the issues surrounding the evacuation to ensure action is taken so "the same mistakes aren't repeated". He claimed "there did not appear to be emergency protocol in place" – and added: "It's hard to not think about what could have gone wrong."
Faye Dyer, chief executive of The ACC Liverpool Group, told the ECHO: "Last night during the S Club concert a back of house sensor was triggered which led to the arena being appropriately evacuated. Our safety systems are comprehensively tested and fully certified and responded appropriately, but for reasons we are yet to fully understand our house lights did not automatically turn on as programmed which meant our manual systems were activated, resulting in a short delay.
"We can confirm that at no point were fire exits blocked, however due to the location of the activation, our stewards directed individuals away from some arena floor fire exits towards others while the source of the activation was investigated. Customer security checks were carried out prior to the show and – as customers remained in very close proximity to the arena for a short amount of time, on private land monitored by CCTV and with additional visual checks put in place for re-entry – the decision was made for them to return to the arena so the show could resume.
"A full check of the arena and systems was carried out in the meantime with the event deemed safe to continue. The safety of our customers is our number one priority; however we understand the customer experience was not in line with our high standards on this occasion and for that we are sorry.
"We wish to thank the band and the audience for their patience and cooperation. We are proud that incidents of this nature remain rare over the past 15 years of hosting successful live events."
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