Torquay United issue statement following travel chaos at Eastbourne

Torquay United issued a club statement on Sunday morning to address concerns surrounding the journey home from a defeat at Eastbourne over the weekend.

The Gulls travelled to Sussex on Friday but found their journey severely hampered by a broken down team coach, resulting in a replacement coach being provided.

After the painful loss in Sussex, and with a midweek trip to Worthing on the horizon, the club spoke to their coach providers about using the supporters’ Travel Club coach for the journey home.

However, that decision sparked some concern online, prompting the club to provide some clarity on events.

The club statement said: Following discussions this morning with the Torquay United Supporters’ Trust (TUST), the club is aware of concerns and online speculation regarding supporter travel to and from Eastbourne on Saturday, and would like to take the opportunity to help clarify the situation. 

The team travelled to Sussex on Friday and, due to two significant breakdowns en route, our official operator, Roselyn Coaches, arranged a temporary replacement transport to be sent to Reading at short notice to ensure the squad could reach the hotel in a timely fashion.

Roselyn agreed to supply a different coach for the club for the squad’s return journey after the match yesterday. We have since been informed by Roselyn that, for their operational reasons, the replacement vehicle being sent for the club’s return trip was used for the supporters’ outward journey to Eastbourne and allocations were then returned for the journey back to Devon.

The Torquay Supporters Travel Club (TSTC) is independent of Torquay United. As such, the club was not aware of any separate contractual arrangements between Roselyn Coaches and TSTC, including that Roselyn had provided a larger coach to TSTC than was originally contracted. 

At no point did the club instruct that any supporters be removed from a coach, and at no time were any members of the squad or football management aware of the logistical discussions.  

The Club has spoken to Roselyn this morning and understand an explanation was also provided by them directly to TSTC regarding the logistics for yesterday.

“We recognise emotions are running high after a disappointing result, and we are sorry for any disruption and confusion caused,” said TUFC Co-Chairman Michael Westcott.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank all Torquay fans for their incredible support to the team, as always.”