Potters fans urged to ditch car

The police have brought in new traffic rules Enlarge Map

Football fans have been warned they could face long delays getting away from Stoke City's Britannia Stadium.

The club expect a full house of 27,000 fans for each home game following record season ticket sales to watch the newly-promoted Premier League side.

Police have brought in new traffic rules around the stadium to deal with the increased number of fans.

This includes closing Stanley Matthews Way and Gordon Banks Drive to cars for 30 minutes after full-time.

Stoke's first home game is on 23 August against Aston Villa.

Cars will also not be allowed to drop people off on these streets before the match and will instead have to use the Harvester pub as the new pick-up zone.

Cars towed away

The force said the road closures were to enable supporter coaches, local buses and pedestrians to leave the ground safely.

Fans have been urged to use organised coaches, public transport or the club shuttle bus service from the city centre to and from the stadium to avoid the jams.

Blue badge parking will not be allowed on double yellow lines and people parked on grass verges on the A50 and A500 will have their cars towed away, the police have warned.

Cars leaving the north and west car parks will not be able to turn left on to the A500 while cars leaving the south car park will be forced to turn right towards Trentham and Newstead.

Traffic lights will be adjusted to help traffic leave the area as quickly as possible.

A police spokesman said: "These plans have been put in place for everyone's safety and to reduce delays as much as possible."

The force said the plans had been agreed with the club and the city council.