Spice Girls in Sunderland: Record number of passengers travel by Metro for packed Stadium of Light show

Nexus, the public body which owns and manages the transport service, has revealed that an additional 16,000 passenger journeys took place last Thursday, generating record revenue from ticket sales for a gig held at the Wearside stadium.

The estimated revenue of more than £40,000 from the Spice Girls concert, which was announced in November 2018.

That beat average sales for each individual night of Ed Sheeran at St James’s Park last June.

The money helped cover the costs of dozens of extra trains and staff to look after concert-goers.

Huw Lewis, customer services director at Nexus, said Metro played a key part in delivering services for the huge event.

He said: “We carried an extra 16,000 passengers to and from Sunderland, which is the highest footfall we have ever had for a concert at the Stadium of Light.

“It was a really busy night and we took a record level of revenue.

“It was hard work, but a really fun night, the crowd were in good spirits and at times it felt like we were staging a huge karaoke singalong on our stations and trains.

“Metro is part of everyday life, so we also enjoy being there when the region is having a party.

“Staff put in a huge amount of work to make the day a success.

“We had extra customer services teams on duty and extra trains running to cope with the demand.”