[Red Moon]

JLS fans tell of concert crush horror

Two of the young girls taken to hospital after being injured at this week's JLS concert have told how they were left struggling to breathe as taller fans closed in tighter and tighter around them.

Close to Sarah Simpson and Hannah Lambert, older girls were passing out while punches were being thrown at suspected queue jumpers.

Fist fights soon escalated into a full-scale gang brawl sending people charging towards the doors of Fairfield Halls in blind panic.

In the crowd surge Sarah, 13, and her friend Hannah, 14, were slammed into a metal pillar.

Sarah said: "It was scary. I hit the pillar and people kept pushing me into it. I was trapped and being squashed, so I pulled sideways and then Hannah went into the pillar. We were packed in tight and soon we couldn't see above us and didn't know where we were. People thought we were screaming for JLS but we were screaming in pain. We were stuck."

Hannah added: "We were holding hands with our other friends. We ended up by the lift in Fairfield and I was being helped by other people. They could see I was upset."

The sudden stampede towards the venue meant the girls, now in tears, were swept into Fairfield's foyer alongside Sarah's mum, Sylvia.

Mrs Simpson said: "The reports saying there were only five people injured are an understatement. I personally saw more than five people being injured. In the news they are playing it down and making it look like a frenzy."

"My daughter had a panic attack and suffered abdominal pains."

Like hundreds of JLS devotees, Sarah, her mum, Hannah and three other friends went to queue for tickets as soon as they left school.

But instead of hearing their favourite reality stars singing in harmony, the teens were deafened by screams of agony and spent the evening in accident and emergency being examined by doctors.

Sarah was treated for abdominal pains and Hannah for hyperventilation while one person was treated for a broken wrist and two others for bruising.

Fairfield Halls chief executive Derek Barr was keen to play down Monday's chaotic scenes.

He said: "Under the circumstances I am delighted that we all got through the tense occasion. The minor injuries could have been a lot worse."

Many of those caught up in the crush blamed Fairfield for not being properly prepared for the event.

But Mr Barr said: "I do not think we would do anything differently. What was unknown to us was the widespread encouragement to attend. We heard schools were leafleted and Capital Radio was promoting it. We were not aware this was happening."

According to Mr Barr, people were told the event was a concert whereas it was actually meant to be a filming session with a staggered ticket release to tempt more people into attending.

He added: "What the filming company wanted were two lines of people and JLS's limo could drive between them. If we would have given out all the tickets in the morning, they would have gone home. What they wanted was the audience to welcome the lads in.

"The tickets were given out in that way to help the audience stay. I can't defend the strategy, but that was what the filming company wanted. Hindsight is a wonderful thing."

Mr Barr was unable to say exactly how many complaints Fairfield has received, but said calls had mainly come from fans fed up that many of those who pushed in ended up watching the gig while they didn't.

He said: "The responsible people who had been queuing properly were pushed out of the way in favour of some very difficult people and for that I am sad. Around 200 gatecrashed.

"Some time in the future I would hope JLS would come back but I have not got any plans at this stage."

In total, five fans were taken to Mayday Hospital and thanks to a request by the Advertiser, they have been offered free tickets to the X Factor final this weekend.

Sarah and Hannah are the only two to so far come forward to claim their tickets. We broke the news to them on Wednesday.

Sarah said: "We are really, really excited. We have been watching them on TV since the beginning. This weekend is my birthday and it is going to be even more special now."

Source: This is Croydon Today

[Jackie]

I hope the girls are okay now.