Since Premier League football re-started, the traffic management, stewarding and security company CSP has supplied employees accredited with specialist police powers to its local football club – Watford FC.
Other Premiership grounds where The Combined Services Provider Limited (CSP) has sent staff to assist with match day operations since the re-start include Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Crystal Palace.
Matches are being played behind closed doors as clubs and staff keep to Government COVID-19 safety rules, such as social distancing, workplace cleaning, use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and workforce management.
The Premier League season kicked off again on June 17 after being suspended from mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. The matches marked the start of a total of 92 games still to be played by midsummer to allow the 2020-21 to start to time.
Tony Nikolic, Managing Director of CSP, said that his business provides stewarding, car parking, road closures and traffic management services to football and rugby stadia. That includes operatives accredited with police powers at Arsenal, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Tottenham FC, Reading, Watford and Twickenham as well as the London Stadium – the former Olympic Stadium 2012, now the home of another Premier League club, West Ham. At all events, numbers of operatives varies depending on crowd numbers and road closures required, he added.
However, since the return of football following the lockdown when matches have played to crowd-free stadiums, the numbers of operatives required have reduced considerably, with some clubs only requiring minimal road or traffic management support or none.
Separately, CSP had just one week from initial enquiry to live operations to design and roll out detailed plans for the re-opening of six waste and recycling centres in north London. Each plan had to be approved by the respective local authorities and the Metropolitan Police, and traffic signage arranged. Likewise, CSP was asked by Surrey Police for staff with police powers to waste sites at Earlswood, Guildford, Leatherhead and Woking. Today, CSP is supporting three other Surrey sites with its staff at Caterham, Camberley and Shepperton.
Tony said: “Our services at waste and recycling centres are being extended almost on a weekly basis and our involvement is dependent on visitor numbers and remain ongoing for the time being.”
CSP has provided employees with police powers at the NHS Coronavirus Test Centre in North Greenwich near the O2 Arena since May 12; CSP’s services there are being extended on a fortnightly basis. Here, CSP’s accredited employees’ tasks include managing safe vehicle movements in the queues and at key junctions and roundabouts near the sites while minimising impact on local residents and through traffic.
Separately, CSP has been re-accredited with the Investors in People standard.
Background
CSP staff were accredited with some police powers under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS), a voluntary scheme, as set out in Section 40 of the Police Reform Act 2002. The role of assessing private sector companies seeking approval to run a CSAS is carried out on behalf of the National Police Chiefs’ Council by Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (PCPI), a police-owned body.
