Updated 14.55
ANGRY SCENES ARE being seen at a gaming event in Dublin this afternoon, with thousands of people stuck in queues having been made to wait since early this morning.
GamerCon, which had billed itself as ‘Ireland’s biggest ever gaming event’, has had a great deal of trouble processing the queues seen outside the Convention Centre in Dublin’s Docklands.
Management have reportedly been turning away some of those with tickets saying that the venue is filled beyond capacity.
25,000 people were expected to attend the event over the course of today and tomorrow.
The delays being seen have led to outcries on social media, with parents venting angrily at the situation they have found themselves in with their children. A suggestion that the event was oversubscribed beyond the Convention Centre’s legal capacity has likewise gained much traction on social media.
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Rohn McDonnell, from Clonsilla in west Dublin, was stuck in the VIP queue for the event with his family from 11am until just before 2pm.
The event officially opened at 9.30am and will close its doors for the day this evening at 6.30pm.
“Management were saying that they’re only allowed to hold 7,000 in the venue,” Rohn told TheJournal.ie. “Some of these people have been stranded in the other queue since 10.30am this morning, they’ve come from across the country with their kids.”
About an hour ago they walked down the queue to tell people to leave.
Rohn, whose VIP family ticket cost €120 with an additional €32 spent on accessing a meet-and-greet session with well-known YouTubers at the event, added that it might be the case that the event organisers had expected the crowd to “rotate in and out”.
“But that was never going to happen with kids,” he said.
Anita McGuinness, from County Clare, meanwhile told TheJournal.ie that a security representative had told her by phone “that the event was oversold by 4,000 tickets”.
“We expected to have to wait to get in but two hours later we were still standing in the rain with no idea as to why,” she said.
I now have two heartbroken children in my arms and nothing is worse when you’re a mother. It is meant to be on again tomorrow and I fear that more children will be in the same boat then.
GamerCon has now committed to providing ticket refunds to unhappy customers “once the event has been completed next week”.
“GamerCon sincerely apologises for the significant delays that our attendees experienced this morning,” event founder Ferdi Roberts said in a statement.
As a first time event we underestimated the traffic flow that we forecast for the event and have very strict health and safety related capacities which we must adhere to.
That temporarily impacted our ability to process the queue which resulted in a longer than expected wait time for our attendees. We are managing this proactively and expect the situation to ease as the day progresses.
We have offered full refunds to those affected and have communicated this to attendees via mobile app and all social media channels.
Roberts subsequently issued an updated statement, with just the final sentence differing from that which was initially released:
“We have offered full refunds to those who decide not to attend and have communicated this to attendees via mobile app and all social media channels,” that sentence now reads.
A term and condition on the GamerCon website, which is printed in a different font to the other terms and conditions, says that “access (to the event) is not guaranteed” as the organisers “are required to maintain a safe environment for our attendees at all times and as such are subject to the capacities of the venue and the rooms/halls therein”.
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