Chaos warning as derby day fans and Christmas shoppers flood Birmingham

Crowd control measures will be in place for football fans travelling by train after West Bromwich Albion's derby match against Aston Villa tomorrow.

Extra security will be drafted into The Hawthorns railway station - with London Midland predicting trains will be 'extremely busy' both before and after the game.

The crowds of football fans will be on top of the thousands of extra people travelling into Birmingham on the Snow Hill lines to got to the Frankfurt Christmas Market and the city's shops.

Network Rail says the Christmas market, combined with the seasonal increase in shoppers, helps to create one of the busiest times of the year in the city. The increase in passengers sees the number using New Street station each day average around 180,000.

London Midland been working with British Transport Police, West Midlands Police and Midland Metro to co-ordinate arrangements for Saturday.

After the match, which has a 3pm kick-off, home and away fans will be segregated at the station's two entrances before being led down to platform level when trains arrive.

Trains are expected to be busier than usual when they arrive at The Hawthorns and fans are being warned it will take longer to get everyone on board.

To avoid overcrowding , London Midland staff will monitor the number of people on board its trains before their arrival at The Hawthorns. Fans will then be led down to platform level based on the capacity available on each train that arrives.

Brenda Lawrence, London Midland's head of Snow Hill services said: "Fans are advised to allow extra time to get to The Hawthorns and not rely on the very last trains to ensure they don't miss kick-off.

"After the match, crowd control measures will be put in place at The Hawthorns station. London Midland has worked closely with British Transport Police, West Midlands Police and Midland Metro to co-ordinate the arrangements to ensure everyone's safety. Fans are advised that this will differ to the usual post-match arrangements."

He added: "Due to seasonal demand we are seeing a huge increase in the number of weekend passengers on Snow Hill lines services.

"This means it will take longer for us to get fans on board trains after the game.

"Our priority is to get everyone home safely, and I would ask fans to respect the crowd control measures that will be in place at the station."

After the game, six trains per hour will depart The Hawthorns in each direction towards Stourbridge and Birmingham to enable fans to get away from the ground.

Crowd control measures have also been in place for the second year running at Birmingham New Street as the volume of travellers using the station at the weekend has exceeded expectations.

Last weekend 525,000 people descended on the station.

Staff have been forced to limit access to the station, platforms and concourse at busy times.

Two weeks ago it saw angry passengers complaining about having to queue up outside the station with some taking to Twitter to voice their concerns as the station had its busiest Saturday night for 16 years.

Steve Lewis, station manager, said: "The market and festive period are great for Birmingham but put a significant pressure on the station to safely manage much higher passenger numbers and sudden large surges of people trying to catch their train."

The ongoing redevelopment work has also had impact leaving parts of the station out of action. The £600 million revamp of the station is on schedule to be completed next year.

Last week it was revealed that New Street is the eighth busiest station in the country.

The number of passengers travelling through New Street rose by 8.3 per cent to 34.75 million last year.

The crowd control measures, first introduced last year, are in place on Fridays 3pm-11pm, on Saturdays 9am-11pm and Sundays 11am-11pm until Christmas.