The Rt Hon Lord Justice Taylor

“ A police presence is there to assist in the enforcement of law and order. Those responsible for organising a private function, however, have the primary and continuing obligation and responsibility to ensure reasonable safety for those who are invited on to their premises." Mr Justice Popplewell ended that section as follows: "It cannot be too strongly emphasised that it is upon the club, or the occupier of the ground who is putting on the function, that the primary and continuing obligation rests." ”

“ The layout of the turnstiles and the number they were required to serve left no margin of safety against an uneven flow of fans. Because police strategy in advance and on the day did not cater for it, the arrival of a large number of supporters between 2.30 pm and 2.40 pm created an unmanageable crush. The presence of a substantial minority of fans who had drunk too much aggravated that problem. Having lost control and rejected the option of postponing kick-off, the police were faced with a serious danger of deaths or injuries. ”

“ Whilst that intelligence can be obtained from a variety of sources, the prime source for football intelligence is the Police National Intelligence System which is based on the network of police liaison officers. Summaries completed by police officers of the home club force are forwarded to the visiting club's liaison officer making available intelligence about fans' behaviour at both home and away fixtures. ”

“ If kick-off is postponed whenever a proportion of fans choose to leave the public houses late, the practice may grow and kick-off times would become meaningless. But, a commander must deal with the problem of the day. Faced with a situation which was becoming dangerous, crowd safety should have been his paramount consideration. Kick-off should have been delayed. ”

“ The Officer Working Party had discussed in 1985 the need, and Dr Eastwood's various schemes, for improvement of the turnstile arrangements. The mathematics are elementary. Both the police and the Club should have realised that the Leppings Lane turnstiles and the waiting area outside them would be under strain to admit all the Liverpool supporters in time. Success depended on the spectators arriving at a steady rate from an early hour and upon the maximum turnstile rate being maintained. ”

“ Whilst the Club, Dr Eastwood, the Officer Working Party and the local authority can be criticised for failing strictly to conform to the Guide, the real failure was common to all those who have been responsible for considering safety on the terraces. The anxiety to protect the sanctity of the pitch has caused insufficient attention to be paid to the risk of a crush due to overcrowding. ”

“ After the 1985 changes, Dr Eastwood did not himself give any figures for the new pens 3 and 4. Someone on his staff however split the figure 2,200 into 1,200 for pen 3 and 1,000 for pen 4. Those figures did not even take account of the fact that pen 5 had been carved out of pen 4 which was bound to have a reducing effect on capacity. Nevertheless, the figures of 1,200 and 1,000 were put on a drawing emanating from Eastwood and Partners and the figures have been notionally regarded since as applicable by the Club and the police. They are in fact too high. ”

“ This was particularly important at Leppings Lane where the turnstile area was so small and awkwardly laid out. If a large crowd was permitted uncontrolled entry through the perimeter gates, the forming of queues at the turnstiles and control by officers, whether on foot or mounted, would become impracticable. Those waiting at the turnstiles would become a single growing mass. ”

“ It is well recognised that the area behind the goal is very popular. Moreover, the position of the tunnel vis-a-vis the turnstiles A to G, its labelling and the absence of signposts advertising the wing pens would draw to it those with terrace tickets. It was therefore highly likely that pens 3 and 4 would fill to capacity and indeed exceed it unless preventive steps were taken. Had Dr Eastwood's plan for separate turnstile access to separate sections with separate toilet and refreshment facilities been implemented, total computerised control could have been kept. ”

“ Before 1965, the Leppings Lane end consisted entirely of terracing like the Kop. In that year, the west stand was built and the terraces remaining in front of it were truncated to their present depth, front to back. As to width, they consisted of a single standing area with no dividing fences. During the early 1970's, hooliganism and pitch invasions made it necessary to prevent access to the playing area and the perimeter fences were therefore erected in 1977. ”

“ Equally there are many who simply endure these things for the football, for a cheap ticket or indeed for the chance of getting in at all. And before Hillsborough most fans on the terraces, even if they enjoy the hurly-burly, had not realised the narrow margin of safety between an uncomfortable crush and a fatal one.
177. The Green Guide sought to improve safety and comfort by laying down criteria for maximum capacity, ie defining what is "full". The standard set was 54 persons per 10 square metres in favourable conditions but fewer, down to 27, in less favourable conditions. ”

“ They believe the discomfort will pass and nothing very untoward will happen. Usually that is the case and they are reassured by it. Most clubs have not, until very recently, consulted their supporters as to their grievances or suggestions. The practice has been to pack them in on the assumption that if they are prepared to put up with it the conditions must be tolerable. Although crowd figures at football grounds have been reduced in recent years, this has been due principally to the increased proportion of seating as against standing accommodation. Terraces have still been packed. ”

“ Access from the concourse to the middle pen was through the tunnel and to the wing pens round the sides of the west stand. Dr Eastwood suggested and illustrated an altered layout which would have provided separate access through separate banks of turnstiles to the north stand, to each end of the west stand, and to each of the three pens. Whilst the main object of this was segregation, such a layout would have enabled each of those areas to be monitored numerically via the turnstiles so as to ensure its maximum capacity was not exceeded. ”

“ However, the police assertion that a rush by some fans towards the Kop end raised fears of conflict are well borne out by the video tape. In my judgement, Chief Superintendent Nesbit was well justified in using some of the many officers called up pursuant to Operation Support to prevent possible violence. To have had open fighting in a ground where some 90 spectators already lay dead would have been an unthinkable and obscene development.
Fans on the Pitch
255. Many fans who escaped onto the pitch alive were in a state of collapse or close to it. ”

“ The Safety Certificate contained no maximum figures for individual pens. There was therefore no sanction or provision focussing attention as to the need to limit entry to the pens by numbers. The layout at Leppings Lane as it evolved made electronic or mechanical control over numbers entering individual pens impracticable if all pens were to be available. Given an important match and a capacity attendance, fans were likely to crowd into popular sections like pens 3 and 4. ”

“ Hillsborough was so designated with effect from 1 January 1979 by SI 1978/1091. In anticipation of that date, Sheffield Wednesday instructed Eastwood and Partners, a firm of consulting engineers, to act on their behalf especially in their dealings with the local authority. Dr Eastwood, the principal of the firm, is a highly experienced civil and structural engineer and has advised several major football clubs. He recommended that a number of additional crush barriers should be added since those already in place were insufficient to comply with the Green Guide (1976 edition) . ”

“ It has become a fact of football life that fans do turn up at all-ticket matches without tickets. It is not possible to give an accurate figure or even a reliable estimate of the number without tickets on 15 April. Police estimates varied from about 200 to about 2,000. There were certainly frequent requests for tickets or "spares" during the hours before the build-up. Many of those warned off by the police were seen to return to the area. ”

“ Neither the Club control room nor the Chief Steward at the Leppings Lane end was warned. Not even Mr Greenwood, the Ground Commander, was informed. From 2.47 pm when Mr Marshall made his first request until 2.52 pm when Mr Duckenfield acceded to it, there were five minutes in which orders could have been given as to how the influx was to be absorbed. It was not done. In evidence, Mr Duckenfield began by saying that no officer made any wrong decision but he later conceded he had erred in this regard. He said he did not consider where the people would go when the gate opened. ”

“ Section 1 of the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 empowered the Secretary of State to designate a sports stadium having, in his opinion, accommodation for more than 10,000 as a stadium requiring a certificate from the local authority. ”

“ The broad line of division being that police are responsible for movement of spectators in public thoroughfares and from public thoroughfares into the ground, while the club is responsible for the control of spectators once they are on the club's premises . ”

“ There was considerable controversy in the course of the public inquiry held by Mr Justice Popplewell in 1985 as to the responsibility of the club and the police. In paragraph 3.6 of his interim report, Mr Justice Popplewell quoted from a report produced for the Minister of Housing and Local Government in 1969 as follows:
"The responsibility for controlling crowd behaviour is divided between the police and the club operating the ground. ”

“ On none of the occasions when ticketless fans were admitted for payment was the match a sell-out. There was therefore room in the ground on each occasion. At a sell-out fans might not expect to be allowed in, even for payment. Secondly, no trouble of the kind alleged was encountered at the 1988 semi-final when Liverpool visited Hillsborough. Thirdly, Liverpool visited Hillsborough again in January 1989 without any trouble. Finally, no forged tickets were in use on 15 April apart from three crude photocopies. ”

“ Monitoring the spectators on the terraces so as to avoid overcrowding involves observing the numbers and their distribution in each area, making decisions as to when an area is "full", taking steps to close it off and moving spectators from one area to another, if necessary. ”

“ Apart from that experience in 1988, the tendency of Liverpool supporters to arrive late was not unknown. Witnesses said that they get through the turnstiles at their home ground, Anfield, quite quickly and tend therefore not to arrive early. Indeed, a general recent tendency to postpone arrival was noted by the Sheffield City Council Advisory Group, with police present, on 23 March 1988. The minute reads:-
"As far as the turnstile question was concerned, a pattern has developed of people arriving some 15 minutes before the start of the game hoping to gain admission. ”

“ The need to provide for speedy and large scale evacuation from the front of the pens to the pitch was not anticipated. The Green Guide (1986) provides as follows:
"209. Access to the pitch must be made as difficult as possible in normal circumstances while at the same time ensuring that the police have effective access to the terraces for the purpose of crowd control and enabling the pitch to be used (where appropriate) in the event of serious emergency ... ”

“ Effectively, they were left to monitor their own comfort and safety so as to avoid overcrowding. The police would only intervene when there was some overt sign that an area was "full".
When is an Area "Full"?
175. Over the years, spectators on terraces have come to accept conditions which are often very uncomfortable and not infrequently downright dangerous. They are subjected to buffeting and squeezing to get in and out of the terraces. They are packed tightly and exposed to surging and swaying during the match. ”

“ Corrosion
240. Inspection of barrier 124a, and indeed other barriers at Hillsborough, by the HSE showed considerable corrosion of the metal at vulnerable points where water could accumulate. Dr Eastwood agreed that if a significant degree of corrosion was observed on visual inspection, a barrier should be condemned.
241. The Green Guide does not specifically refer to corrosion. Paragraph 39 provides, inter alia:
"Crush barriers and balustrades should be examined for deformation or any other overt signs of weakness". ”

“ But it did more. In the absence of barrier 144, the influx of fans after 2.52 pm met no retarding structure as it came into pen 3. The pressure created was free to push fans straight down by the radial fence to the lowest line of barriers. The pressure diagonally from the tunnel mouth down to barrier number 124a which collapsed was unbroken by any intervening barrier. 124a was also vulnerable to pressure straight down the pen through the gap in the barrier above it created in 1985.
234. Inspector Bullas, positioned in the west stand, described what he saw looking down on the pens around 3 pm. ”