Home team failed to turn up for match

Macclesfield Town’s match was postponed last night after the home team failed to turn up because of traffic – at the Dartford Crossing over the Thames.

Macclesfield Town travelled over 200 miles to Maidstone’s ground on Tuesday (March 7) with hopes of taking on the Stones. However, the Dartford Crossing proved to be an obstruction rather than a crossing.

A crash at around 5 pm, involving two lorries and a van, created a three-hour delay, with queues stretching back from junction 1a over the bridge back past junction 29 in Essex.

Unfortunately, most of the Maidstone squad and fans got caught up in it.

Club chief executive Bill Williams said: “This is the first time in my 50 years in the game that I’ve experienced anything like this happening.”

“When we travel to home or away games we always allow plenty of time and, under normal circumstances, all of our players would have been at the ground by 5.45pm. Unfortunately, no one could have envisaged this multi-vehicle crash, which caused a huge spillage and closed the Kent-bound carriageway. I can understand everyone’s frustrations and feel for those supporters who travelled from Macclesfield, but as you can appreciate this incident is beyond our control.”

After travelling 229 miles, Macclesfield Town said: “The Silkmen squad arrived at the game to be informed several Maidstone players were stuck on the M25 following a serious collision.”

“Kick-off was initially delayed, but with some home players still stuck along with some travelling supporters the game was postponed shortly after 19.45pm. Everybody at Macclesfield Town would like to thank the Silkmen supporters that made it to the game and those who tried to make it.”