Security

[ladidah]

I hate having to empty out my water bottle now. It's solely so they can get you to buy something at the bar.

[moorhunhe]

Sept 20, 2024 8:42:53 GMT ladidah said:

I hate having to empty out my water bottle now. It's solely so they can get you to buy something at the bar.

Went to Wembley for
Taylor Swift last month. My bottle was half empty, they asked me to drink it and throw the cap away.
I get losing the cap, but weather there is still water inside or not is just stupid.
As there were water filling stations for free, and medics were also taking out bottles and filling them inside their medic rooms from the taps.

[fiyerorocher]

Sept 19, 2024 18:22:45 GMT Phantom of London said:

I had a colleague complain to me at a certain West End show, the security insisted the person empty out their pocket, Is this allowed?

You sometimes had (have?) to do this at Cursed Child. They wave those detector wands over you and they'll beep if you have keys or change in your pockets.

[Dawnstar]

Sept 20, 2024 10:41:25 GMT moorhunhe said:

Went to Wembley for
Taylor Swift last month. My bottle was half empty, they asked me to drink it and throw the cap away.
I get losing the cap, but weather there is still water inside or not is just stupid.
As there were water filling stations for free, and medics were also taking out bottles and filling them inside their medic rooms from the taps.

But if you were made to throw away the bottle cap then how does refilling work?

[fiyerorocher]

Sept 20, 2024 12:27:13 GMT Dawnstar said:

Sept 20, 2024 10:41:25 GMT moorhunhe said:

Went to Wembley for
Taylor Swift last month. My bottle was half empty, they asked me to drink it and throw the cap away.
I get losing the cap, but weather there is still water inside or not is just stupid.
As there were water filling stations for free, and medics were also taking out bottles and filling them inside their medic rooms from the taps.

But if you were made to throw away the bottle cap then how does refilling work?

No bottle caps is a fairly common arena rule. You just carry the bottle. You can still refill it, you just can't put the lid back on and stick it in a bag.

[Dawnstar]

Sept 20, 2024 12:54:41 GMT fiyerorocher said:

Sept 20, 2024 12:27:13 GMT Dawnstar said:

But if you were made to throw away the bottle cap then how does refilling work?

No bottle caps is a fairly common arena rule. You just carry the bottle. You can still refill it, you just can't put the lid back on and stick it in a bag.

That sounds an absolute pain. What do you do with the bottle when going to the loo? Or when travelling home afterwards? Thank goodness I never go to pop concerts & I really hope it doesn't come into mass prevelance at theatres.

[Dave B]

Sept 20, 2024 12:27:13 GMT Dawnstar said:

But if you were made to throw away the bottle cap then how does refilling work?

This infuriates me at gigs. I just stick a bottle top in the never used coin section of my wallet and then I can get a bottle of water or a soft drinks, get a good spot in the crowd and have it available throughout the gig.

[hannechalk]

In regional theatres, if you put an opened bottle of pop and a knife in your bag, next to each other, they would make a bigger fuss over the open bottle than the knife.

I feel bag searches there are not for security, but for bar revenue. They don't even look properly - as long as they cannot see bottles or cans, you're good to go.

[PhantomNcl]

Dec 22, 2017 13:25:21 GMT BurlyBeaR said:

Bumping this in light of the NT Prankster discussion and security etc. When I came out of The Palace in Manchester the other night I left by the side doors but decided to go back into the foyer by the front doors to get meself a magnet. Of course it was full of people leaving but I was able to push through the crowds and enter, there was no security. So despite the bag checks before the show there’s nothing to stop someone accessing the theatre at the end of the performance, in other words exactly what happened at the arena.

Allseems a bit cock-eyed and lip-servicey to me. Is it the same situation elsewhere?

Not at our venue.  We do ticket and bag checks on the way in, tickets and bags are re-checked if people go out during the interval (and we have hand stamps if people have left their tickets 3 floors up, or can't get them on their phones again), then on outgoing we have ushers on each entrance door checking tickets again if people have left through a side exit and want to come back in to buy merch/use the loo.  No ticket, no entry.

[fiyerorocher]

Sept 20, 2024 13:01:15 GMT Dawnstar said:

Sept 20, 2024 12:54:41 GMT fiyerorocher said:

No bottle caps is a fairly common arena rule. You just carry the bottle. You can still refill it, you just can't put the lid back on and stick it in a bag.

That sounds an absolute pain. What do you do with the bottle when going to the loo? Or when travelling home afterwards? Thank goodness I never go to pop concerts & I really hope it doesn't come into mass prevelance at theatres.

We're unlikely to see it come into play at traditional theatres. It's to stop sealed, full bottles being thrown as they can cause serious injuries especially if they're dropped from one level to another. Thankfully not an issue we have in most theatres.

[alece10]

First time I came across this rule was at the o2 Les Mis 25th Anniversary concert. Was told to take off the bottle cap and hand it over. When asked why I was given the reason about it bring used as a missile that can be thrown. I pointed out that your average MT fan wouldn't want to throw missiles at the stage but that fell on deaf ears. I did point out that it was now very easy to create a health and safety hazard as the bottle could now be knocked over and water go on the concrete floor meaning people could easily slip. They had no answer for that. But I saw it more of a problem than it being thrown. Many people were saying the same thing but they were having none of it.

[sph]

Sept 20, 2024 15:13:51 GMT alece10 said:

First time I came across this rule was at the o2 Les Mis 25th Anniversary concert. Was told to take off the bottle cap and hand it over. When asked why I was given the reason about it bring used as a missile that can be thrown. I pointed out that your average MT fan wouldn't want to throw missiles at the stage but that fell on deaf ears. I did point out that it was now very easy to create a health and safety hazard as the bottle could now be knocked over and water go on the concrete floor meaning people could easily slip. They had no answer for that. But I saw it more of a problem than it being thrown. Many people were saying the same thing but they were having none of it.

I think you're very unlikely to change the overall policies of a venue there and then on the spot, no matter what you say or think of them.



With regards to earlier posters discussing searching for alcohol in bags, yes that is often what they are looking for. Partly because of bar revenue (although I find most theatres to be fairly lenient with soft drinks and snacks), but mostly because of the license held by the venue for serving alcohol. Outside alcohol is not permitted under the terms of the license as its consumption is not being monitored by the staff or license holder.

[bee]

Regarding the bottle-top issue, the new-style of attached tops on plastic bottles might be coming to our rescue. On my most recent visit to the football I got given a bottle with the lid on when I went to buy a coke. When I had done the same at the previous game the young bloke who was serving me had to tear it off - not all that easy to do as it turned out.

[theglenbucklaird]

Sept 20, 2024 14:50:43 GMT Dave B said:

Sept 20, 2024 12:27:13 GMT Dawnstar said:

But if you were made to throw away the bottle cap then how does refilling work?

This infuriates me at gigs. I just stick a bottle top in the never used coin section of my wallet and then I can get a bottle of water or a soft drinks, get a good spot in the crowd and have it available throughout the gig.

Wembley arena has a larger than regular water bottle. Always take three or four different sized tops to a concert 

[moorhunhe]

Sept 20, 2024 13:01:15 GMT Dawnstar said:

Sept 20, 2024 12:54:41 GMT fiyerorocher said:

No bottle caps is a fairly common arena rule. You just carry the bottle. You can still refill it, you just can't put the lid back on and stick it in a bag.

That sounds an absolute pain. What do you do with the bottle when going to the loo? Or when travelling home afterwards? Thank goodness I never go to pop concerts & I really hope it doesn't come into mass prevelance at theatres.

I'm not sure what's so hard to understand, to be honest (not being rude or anything).
I guess if you're standing at a concert it would be different, there were different rules at Wembley for Taylor's shows.
I had a seat, so wasn't bothered at all really.
During the show the bottle was under my seat, I left once and just left it there, no big deal.
When the show was done you can be like the majority and just leave it, or like me, take it with you until you find a bin somewhere.

[daniel]

Sept 19, 2024 18:22:45 GMT Phantom of London said:

I had a colleague complain to me at a certain West End show, the security insisted the person empty out their pocket, Is this allowed?

Yes it’s allowed. Arguably it would be a request and they cannot force the issue, but management could deny entry if it seemed at all suspicious.

[oxfordsimon]

Here in Oxford, we are not many months away from the start of new travel restrictions which will shut off the city centre to private traffic from 7am to 7pm.

This will massively restrict access to all city centre parking both on street and car parks and, of course, the main theatres.

Already the security at the New Theatre is causing queues round the block which i is thus delaying the start of many performances.

Once these new restrictions come in, patrons who need to drive won't be able to start parking until after 7pm.

This is going to utterly mess with start times and make matinées difficult to get to.

Security is going to have to change. And possibly start times might need to be pushed to 7.45pm

[pws]

I was at a venue recently that perhaps should be nameless.
They were doing bag checks on the queue outside.
The people in front of me said to the security chap 'we have alcohol, is that ok' and he said yes, absolutely.
The people behind me had bottles of water and he made them dispose of it all.
How does that work, then?

[Paulw]

Sept 21, 2024 1:20:52 GMT oxfordsimon said:

Here in Oxford, we are not many months away from the start of new travel restrictions which will shut off the city centre to private traffic from 7am to 7pm.

This will massively restrict access to all city centre parking both on street and car parks and, of course, the main theatres.

Already the security at the New Theatre is causing queues round the block which i is thus delaying the start of many performances.

Once these new restrictions come in, patrons who need to drive won't be able to start parking until after 7pm.

This is going to utterly mess with start times and make matinées difficult to get to.

Security is going to have to change. And possibly start times might need to be pushed to 7.45pm

Off topic but to pick you up on the travel restrictions in Oxford, I use New Theatre a few times a year (traveling form London) to catch some touring shows and once that comes in it will instantly stop me from doing this and therefore not just theatre revenue could be affected but local businesses with food and drink or as I do spend a good part of the day across there. I know I’m not the only one that does this so it will have an impact in so many other areas not just the getting into the theatre due to security

[Dawnstar]

Sept 20, 2024 19:58:24 GMT moorhunhe said:

I'm not sure what's so hard to understand, to be honest (not being rude or anything).
I guess if you're standing at a concert it would be different, there were different rules at Wembley for Taylor's shows.
I had a seat, so wasn't bothered at all really.
During the show the bottle was under my seat, I left once and just left it there, no big deal.
When the show was done you can be like the majority and just leave it, or like me, take it with you until you find a bin somewhere.

I wouldn't want to leave an open bottle under a seat in the interval in case anyone knocked it over or anything fell it in & contaminated the water. I don't live in London so if I left/binned a bottle at the end of an event that I wouldn't have anything to drink on my journey home, which can be up to 2 hours, which would probably leave me with a splitting headache by the time I got home.

[oxfordsimon]

Sept 21, 2024 11:28:36 GMT Paulw said:

Sept 21, 2024 1:20:52 GMT oxfordsimon said:

Here in Oxford, we are not many months away from the start of new travel restrictions which will shut off the city centre to private traffic from 7am to 7pm.

This will massively restrict access to all city centre parking both on street and car parks and, of course, the main theatres.

Already the security at the New Theatre is causing queues round the block which i is thus delaying the start of many performances.

Once these new restrictions come in, patrons who need to drive won't be able to start parking until after 7pm.

This is going to utterly mess with start times and make matinées difficult to get to.

Security is going to have to change. And possibly start times might need to be pushed to 7.45pm

Off topic but to pick you up on the travel restrictions in Oxford, I use New Theatre a few times a year (traveling form London) to catch some touring shows and once that comes in it will instantly stop me from doing this and therefore not just theatre revenue could be affected but local businesses with food and drink or as I do spend a good part of the day across there. I know I’m not the only one that does this so it will have an impact in so many other areas not just the getting into the theatre due to security

You are absolutely right.

The nighttime economy as a whole will be affected

They are hoping that public transport will provide the answers. But that will never work for everyone. And they are not investing enough to boost capacity, routes and comfort.

[anthony40]

In February this year I flew from London to Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur to Sydney to see family, friends ad to attend a wedding.

On my return journey I got to airport security, undid my belt and put all of my possession in the tray to be scanned.

When I walked through the security arch, despite the fact that no alarms went off, the security officer accused me of having something in the left pocket of the jeans I was wearing- I didn't.

I explained this and explained that anything I had was in the tray. I emptied my poster to prove that I didn't.

He then accused me of having something in the right pocket of the jeans I was wearing- again (except for a handkerchief) I didn't.

So I explained about my handkerchief and emptied my pocket.

He then explained that he was going to frisk me. I had the choice of having this done, there and then, or in a private room.

Except for the handkerchief, I had nothing on me- again, it was all in the tray; that's what the tray is for!

As I had nothing on me and this nothing to hide I explained that I was happy to be frisked there and then.

Upon doing so, the Officer then turned around and said "You've got nothing on you". I roll my eyes and say "I know. I told you that. It's all in the tray- that's what the tray's for! But you wouldn't listen!"

[BurlyBeaR]

I think airport security people are their own kind of people. Bless them and whatever their aspirations are. I wish them well.

[sph]

Sept 21, 2024 9:26:18 GMT pws said:

I was at a venue recently that perhaps should be nameless.
They were doing bag checks on the queue outside.
The people in front of me said to the security chap 'we have alcohol, is that ok' and he said yes, absolutely.
The people behind me had bottles of water and he made them dispose of it all.
How does that work, then?

This seems highly unusual to me. Perhaps you should share the name of the venue.

[lynette]

Sept 21, 2024 22:34:40 GMT BurlyBeaR said:

I think airport security people are their own kind of people. Bless them and whatever their aspirations are. I wish them well.

Yes, not an easy job and we rely on them for our safety but they can be a bit in your face. I’m always ( always ) given the wand treatment, often the pat down too and T shirt pull around to reveal money belt to all and sundry. My knee sets off the ding and in India I had to show them the scars! Love em all. All very good. But tiresome.