Mayor defends plan to cancel trams for derby match

Sheffield Supertram will not run at certain points before and after the match at Hillsborough

South Yorkshire's Mayor Oliver Coppard has defended the decision to suspend Supertram services before and after Sunday's Sheffield Wednesday's game against Sheffield United, saying previous disorder was to blame.

Services on the blue and yellow lines will be affected between 10:00 GMT and midday and from 13:00 to 15:00.

Some fans have criticised the decision on social media saying it discriminates against older and disabled supporters travelling to Hillsborough, with one fan calling it an "own goal".

However, Coppard, who controls the tram network, said the changes were necessary to keep fans safe.

South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard has halted Sheffield Supertrams for the derby

Speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield, he said: "The tram will actually lose about £10,000 by not running on the day, but last year it was a midday Sunday fixture again and there was a lot of disorder on and around the tram.

"There were loads of people congregating and drinking on the tram tracks, which is really dangerous.

"The tram struggled to get through, then there were people on the tram who pulled the emergency cord, got out and that led to confrontations between rival fans.

"There were big issues that the police had to deal with around the Leppings Lane tram stop, and they had to use horses and dogs."

The Mayor said police resources were already stretched on the day without officers being used to patrol the trams and called on football fans to act more responsibly.

"Because of a small number of people, the vast majority of good decent fans aren't going to be able to use the tram network," Coppard said.

"How do you solve a bunch of people congregating on the tram tracks across the whole of that network from Cathedral through to Hillsborough, three or four miles? That is a long stretch of track for the police to patrol.

"Ultimately it has to be down to fans behaving better. That small number of people who are determined to get drunk, cause a bit of trouble, are making it really difficult for us to run the tram network on the day and that is causing problems for everybody."

For a full list of the changes to the service visit the Supertram website.

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