Peterborough United fan stunned as Wembley Stadium turnstile mishap goes viral
A Peterborough United fan had an unintentional 15 minutes of fame after a photo of him stuck in the turnstiles at Wembley Stadium went viral.
Paul Bloodworth, from Deeping St James, was stuck for around 40 seconds as he queued to get in for Posh’s EFL Trophy final clash with Wycombe, which they won 2-1.
“There was a bottleneck and it got busier and busier, but we eventually got to the front of the queue and immediately behind the turnstiles was security,” Paul explained.
“They were being slow, but they were still letting people go through the turnstiles.
“The turnstile opened for me, but I couldn’t go any further without barging the people over that were waiting for security, and then after about five or 10 seconds the gate locked.
“I couldn’t go backwards and I couldn’t go forwards.”
Paul’s ‘ordeal’ lasted only about 40 seconds before he was freed by staff, but not before his son James could spring into action.
Photographing his trapped dad, James added the caption "Win, lose or draw. Don't care. Saw my dad get stuck in a turnstile so all worth it." before posting it on X, formerly Twitter.
To their amazement, the post began to gain rapid traction on social media and within days had attracted almost a million views and more than 35,000 likes.
“I didn’t know anything about it until I got a message from a friend saying ‘have they let you out yet?’ and enclosed a photo and that’s when James owned up to what he’d done,” Paul recalled.
“On the train back we got a message from one of our friends to say ‘have you seen how many hits you’ve had?’.
“It was a couple of thousand and we thought ‘that’s strange’, and then it just kept growing and growing and growing. I went to Norfolk on the Monday and it was going up by the 10,000s every 20 minutes.
“There’s nothing amazing about the photo and it wasn’t as if I was trapped there for hours.”
And the interest in Paul’s sticky moment didn’t end there.
“An estate agent in Peterborough is now using my picture for an advertising campaign,” Paul added.
“It’s just stupid really, but it’s a good laugh and I’ve taken it well.
“Radio 5 Live wanted an interview last night and had to drop it because some proper news happened. I really can’t explain it.”
Paul, 58, has been a devoted Posh fan since 1973, while James, 26, has been attending matches with his dad since he was five.
The scrutiny continued on Tuesday evening when the pair went to London Road on Tuesday evening to watch their promotion-chasing side in League One action.
“James and I have a really good relationship and we went to the football last night, but that was embarrassing,” Paul added.
“All the people there where pointing and laughing and asking me to turn around so they could see my back as I appeared in the photo.
“James made me go through the turnstiles in front of him and took a photo to prove I could use a turnstile.”