British couple warn England fans after crushing chaos at Mexico City FanFest

A British couple who attended the World Cup in Mexico City have issued a stark safety warning to England supporters travelling for Sunday’s round-of-16 clash, describing scenes of severe crushing and a near-total absence of crowd management at an official FanFest.

Jo Lewis, 44, and her partner Gary Taylor, 64, from Harold Wood, Essex, were in the Mexican capital for the tournament’s opening game before moving on to Dallas to follow England. Their account comes after three Mexican fans were suffocated and killed during mass street celebrations following Mexico’s group-stage victory over Ecuador, when more than one million people flooded the streets of the capital.

“It took us four hours to get into the fanzone,” said Jo, who works in logistics for an oil and gas company. “I was swept in on a surge of grown adults into a small doorway area — my feet weren’t even on the floor — and I couldn’t see Gary, and I started to panic. This was the worst experience of my life. My hands were trembling for at least an hour afterwards.”

Gary, an estate agent who has attended hundreds of Tottenham Hotspur and England matches over the years, was equally shaken. “There must have been a two or three mile queue just to get to the fanzone. There was just one entrance, perhaps the size of two double garage doors — literally 10,000 people squeezing through that gap. Mexico City was the worst, 100 percent the worst experience of all the matches I’ve ever been to.”

Both said policing, security and organisation in Mexico City fell far short of the standards they had encountered at venues in the United States. Jo described seeing parents with young children and babies being crushed in the crowds, with little intervention from officials.

An estimated 5,000 England supporters are expected to travel to Mexico for the round-of-16 fixture, which kicks off at 1am Monday morning UK time. Mexico fans reportedly kept Ecuador’s squad awake before their previous match by setting off fireworks outside the team hotel, adding to the charged atmosphere England’s players and supporters can expect.

Gary and Jo hold tickets for every England game remaining in the tournament, including the final in New York on 19 July should the Three Lions reach it. Despite their ordeal, they are pressing on — but want fellow supporters to go in with their eyes open.