THOUSANDS of England fans could be left stranded in Middlesbrough after police ordered the closure of the town's train station.

England supporters reacted with anger after British Transport Police revealed they will close the station at 9.45pm on the night of England's match with Slovakia on Wednesday, June 11.

The decision will leave thousands of supporters, many of whom have already bought return rail tickets, stranded on Teesside.

Police said they made the decision on safety grounds because the usual three trains would have been dangerously overcrowded.

But fans and transport groups insisted last night that they should have provided more trains instead of cancelling them.

Kevin Miles, co-ordinator for the Football Supporters' Federation, said: "Frankly, this raises the question of whether Middlesbrough is a suitable venue for an international match. It is a sad state of affairs.

"While nobody treats safety more seriously than supporters' groups, and we can quite understand that the system is not designed to cope with a large number of travelling fans, I would have thought it makes sense to put on more services."

Transport groups predicted chaos, with thousands of fans streaming away from the ground after the match, uncertain of how to get home.

Brian Milnes, of Tees Valley Transport 2000, said: "It is madness. There could be 10,000 people travelling to the game by train. How are they supposed to get back?

"It's been tried in Cardiff after a big match and there was absolute chaos. That is what will happen here.

"I am sure train operator Arriva could have provided an extra half dozen trains and that would have made a huge dent in the number of fans leaving.

" It leaves Middlesbrough in some danger to have so many fans milling around."

Simon Lupin, media relations manager for British Transport Police, said: "Closing a station is extremely rare and we regret having to issue this advice. But we believe this is the best way of ensuring fans attending the game do so in safety.

"Three trains were due to leave after 9.45pm and these would not have met the anticipated demand."

A spokeswoman for Arriva North-East said it was following police advice.

Slovakian fan's return trip hits the buffers

FOR the want of a paltry 15 miles between Darlington and Middlesbrough, a journey of 2,175 miles was lost.

Consider a football fan in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, who wants to support his national team next Wednesday at the Riverside stadium. Using the Internet, he calculates that if he finishes work at 5pm on Tuesday, he can catch the 5.50pm train for Vienna.

He could book a couchette or sleeperette between Vienna and Frankfurt so he could arrive, having made six changes, at Middlesbrough at 6.51pm - just enough time for a pint of English ale in the Navigation pub before the 8pm kick-off. After the match, a leisurely stroll to Middlesbrough station, catch the 11.03pm to Darlington and, after a couple of hours on the platform, he'd be on his way home through the Channel Tunnel, and across Belgium, Germany and Austria. He'd arrive in Bratislava at 8.28am on Thursday - just in time for work at 9am.

But then, to his amazement, he discovers that the backward British have closed Middlesbrough station - because too many people want to use it. He can get to the game on time, but there's no way home by rail. He'll either have to get a taxi those 15 miles or find a hotel in Boro.