England fans have been criticised for their “disgraceful” behaviour following their team’s quarter-final victory at the World Cup on Sunday, as one police force received a record-breaking number of 999 calls in 24 hours.
In one video widely shared online, jubilant football fans can be seen jumping on furniture and kicking items around an IKEA store in Stratford, London following England’s win against Sweden.
The emergency services seemed to bear the brunt of the over-zealous celebrations as ambulances were stood on and dented by crowds yesterday afternoon.
In Stratford, cheering crowds celebrating England’s 2-0 win entered one of Sweden’s flagship home stores and began “trashing” it.
Responding to the video, an IKEA spokesperson said: “We are aware of a small group of fans celebrating the match result in one of our stores.
“Being both British and Swedish, we were on the edge of our seats during the game and we would like to say ‘grattis!’ (that’s congratulations in Swedish) to the England team for getting through to the semi-finals.”
Meanwhile, West Midlands Police said they took their highest volume of 999 calls ever, with 3,276 being made for emergency police assistance in 24 hours.
WMP said that the spike in calls was down to a combination of scorching summer temperatures, the World Cup and alcohol.
However, a spokesperson for the Met Police told HuffPost UK that there had not been am abnormally high number of calls in the capital.
Yesterday’s match was held on the same weekend as the London Pride Parade, Wireless Festival and the British Summertime festival in Hyde Park.
The emergency services hit out at the “disgraceful” minority of England fans who marked their team’s passage to the World Cup semi-finals with disorder.
Sergeant Wayne Baker, with West Yorkshire Police, tweeted his disgust after pictures emerged of revellers dancing on top of an ambulance in central London. He branded such behaviour a “total disgrace”.
In the capital, the London Ambulance Service tweeted an image showing the damage caused to one of its emergency response vehicles while an officer was attending a call.
In Nottingham, a group of supporters were seen dancing on top of a bus shelter, while other clips from Manchester and Birmingham showed people on top of buses with their shirts off.
Footage from Clapham, south London, sees a fan plunge through a glass bus stop roof after leaping from the top of a double-decker bus.
In one video, a car can be seen with a smashed roof and windscreen in Nottingham.
On Wednesday England will meet Croatia in the semi-final. If they win, they will play either France or Belgium in the final, held on Sunday July 15.
