I accept that to ensure the revellers made it on to the trains in a safe manner on Saturday night, some restriction of entry to Brighton station was needed.

However, I cannot express my frustration and anger strongly enough about the absolute stupidity of the police.

Why close the station for more than an hour and have the entire visiting population rush the gates when they finally opened?

Why not help usher the people in instead of almost enticing them to push?

Why did it take more than an hour for a policeman to pick up a megaphone to inform the crowd of what was happening?

And why was a contingency plan not executed, either by the police or the rail company, earlier than 11pm, even though Brighton was clearly overrun by 5pm?

I was in the middle of the fracas inside the station once the gates were open. I witnessed police trying to stop a 1,000-strong crowd from pushing forward by shouting at the people at the front to stop pushing. (Erm... I'm trying, officer.)

When this didn't work, the police decided to start punching and elbowing people in the face.

No matter how bad a situation is, you cannot lose your head. The police in the station clearly did and nearly lost me mine.

-Andrew Griffiths, Denison Road, London SW19