Boxing day football: Away fans face up to eight hours on the road due to railway standstill

Football fans hoping to watch their teams in action away from home this Boxing Day face up to eight hours on the road due to a lack of nationwide train services.

Out of 30 of the nation’s main railway operators, including the likes of Virgin, Great Northern and East Midland Trains, only eight are running services - all of which are reduced.

For those hoping to travel to away games, the vast majority of supporters will be subsequently forced to take to Britain's motorways.

West Ham fans face a daunting round trip of 8hrs 18 minutes to watch their side play Swansea at the Liberty Stadium while Norwich supporters will have to undertake a 5hr 24 minutes journey to watch their team against Reading.

Across the 18 fixtures in the Premier League and Championship, only Watford vs Crystal Palace can be reached by rail.

The Boxing Day fixtures have been a trademark feature of the football calendar for decades but repeatedly bring travel headache for the thousand of fans hoping to watch their teams in action away from home.

Those in charge of the fixture compilation process attempt to keep Boxing Day matches as local as possible for travelling fans but have no say in the timetables of the nation’s train operators.

A spokesman for the Premier League told the Independent: “The Premier League is a national competition with clubs located across the country.

“The fixture compilation process is challenging, with multiple factors taken into account, but we work hard to ensure clubs have a home fixture on either the Boxing Day or New Year’s Day match rounds.

“The League and clubs appreciate the commitment of travelling fans and earlier this year clubs agreed to a £30 away ticket price cap for the next three seasons. Several clubs also offer travel schemes and other offers that incentivise away fan attendance.”

The government has come under criticism in recent years for its handling of the Boxing Day rail standstill and the disruption it brings to football fans.

MP Andy McDonald, Labour's Shadow Secretary for Transport, recently criticised the Conservative party for its failure to implement measures that would help supporters in their Boxing Day travels.

“Tory Ministers’ handling of the Boxing Day rail standstill is making it much harder for football fans to support their teams away from home this Christmas,” he said.

“In opposition the Tories attacked the Boxing Day rail shutdown. They’ve now had more than six years to do something about it but haven’t.

“Their lack of action, even despite the chaos of previous years, gives the impression they don’t really care about it at all.”

Britain is the only major European country not to have train services running over the Christmas period - much to the frustration of travelling football supporters.