The complaint was laid with the Dunedin City Council's building control team on Wednesday night after a Canada v United States invitational ice hockey game at the Victoria Rd stadium. It concerned apparent safety issues about seating at the game, and allegations people were forced to sit in the aisles, stairs and walkways after seating ran out.
Dunedin woman Susan Dunn did not make the complaint, but raised similar issues with the Otago Daily Times yesterday. She said she was shocked by what she saw after arriving early to ensure a good vantage point.
After the available seating filled up, extra pews were brought in and placed in the walkways between the ice rinks and in front of the front rows in the elevated stand at the south end of the stadium. People also filled stairs above the main rink.
"They just kept pouring in and we were thinking, where are all these people going to go? You wanted to be angry with people, but they paid for a ticket and there was nowhere for them to go, so you couldn't really be."
She complained to security that people on the stairs was a fire hazard, and they agreed it was a safety issue, but no action was taken to resolve the problem.
"How can promoters get away with selling more tickets than seats?" Ms Dunn asked.
Despite telling the ODT earlier this week that with imported seating from Christchurch, the stadium's capacity would be 3500, the event's promoter Craig Douglas yesterday said the capacity had only ever been 2890 and only 2890 tickets were sold for the game.
"But I do reckon there were extra people in there; that people got in somehow without a ticket. That place is such a big box, you know."
Because there was no numbering on the permanent seating at the stadium, the tickets had to be sold as general admission, and without allocated seats, people had crowded into stairwells, walkways and aisles to try and get a better view of the big screen, he said.
A team of more than 20 security staff was telling people to move all night, but it had been difficult.
An announcement to the crowd at the end of the game that police and fire service staff would manage the crowd's exit was done at the instruction of police and "the fire department", who wanted to ensure an orderly departure, Mr Douglas said.
He also said staff from those agencies helped the crowd leave the stadium in a controlled fashion.
However, police yesterday said they visited the stadium during the game, had no concerns and left; and the Fire Service said it had had nothing to do with the event at all.
Senior Sergeant Mel Aitken said members of a proactive policing team visited the stadium after the rugby at Carisbrook, to check liquor licence compliance. While there, officers had few concerns; although they did ask security to move some some tables and seats from in front of exits and left after that was done.
Fire Service East Otago area commander Brendan Nally said firefighters did not go to the ice stadium on Wednesday night. He referred the ODT to the council's building control team for comment on the issue of fire exits and egresses possibly being blocked.
Chief building control officer Neil McLeod said the council received a complaint on Wednesday night, but he was out of town and did not arrive back in Dunedin until late yesterday.
He had not seen the details of the complaint by last night, so had "no idea" whether it had any substance, but said his team would investigate.
