Hundreds of football fans were stuck queuing near Nottingham railway station as they struggled to get to London for the Championship play-off final.
Nottingham Forest are taking on Huddersfield Town at Wembley.
Fans went on Twitter to criticise East Midlands Railway (EMR) after many people missed their train due to the queues.
@andyrt1975
Andy Thompson, 47, told the PA news agency: “We were supposed to be in first class on a 10-carriage train.
“There were only five carriages.
“It was like a packed Tube train at rush hour.”
Another fan told PA: “I would say EMR massively underestimated numbers of Forest fans going by train, but to be fair to them they brought later trains forward with more carriages.
“If however you were waiting for later trains, queues were on to London Road.
“It’s going to be mad going back again.”
@andyrt1975
Thousands of Forest fans were expected to make the journey to London.
EMR has since relaxed its ticket restrictions to enable customers with booked tickets to travel on any service.