The Rt Hon Lord Justice Taylor

“ FIRST AID AND EMERGENCY SERVICES
No Fault by the Emergency Services
296. I say at the outset of this chapter that no valid criticism can be made of the response by the St John Ambulance Brigade, by SYMAS or by the fire brigade on 15 April. Indeed, no represented party ventured any criticism of them. The only attack on SYMAS came from two Liverpool doctors. One claimed that ambulances did not arrive swiftly or with sufficient equipment and that there was a lack of triage. He was proved to be wrong in all three respects. ”

“ The need to open gate C was due to dangerous congestion at the turnstiles. That occurred because, as both Club and police should have realised, the turnstile area could not easily cope with the large numbers demanded of it unless they arrived steadily over a lengthy period. The Operational Order and police tactics on the day failed to provide for controlling a concentrated arrival of large numbers should that occur in a short period. That it might so occur was foreseeable and it did. The presence of an unruly minority who had drunk too much aggravated the problem. ”

“ The FA were strongly criticised by the Football Supporters' Association and others for having imposed the Hillsborough venue on Liverpool for a second year running. The Liverpool supporters had to travel much further to Sheffield than their Nottingham rivals. The police required that if the match was to be at Hillsborough at all, Liverpool would have to have the west and north side accommodation. ”

“ When he was unsure of the problem, he sent others down to "assess the situation" rather than descend to see for himself. He gave no information to the crowd.
283. Most surprisingly, he gave Mr Kelly and others to think that there had been an inrush due to Liverpool fans forcing open a gate. This was not only untruthful. It set off a widely reported allegation against the supporters which caused grave offence and distress. It revived against football fans, and especially those from Liverpool, accusations of hooliganism which caused reaction not only nationwide but from Europe too. ”

“ He admitted that a telephone call from the Chief Executive of the Liverpool Club protesting and putting Liverpool's case had not been mentioned to the FA committee which finally decided the venue. Mr Kelly frankly conceded that "there was an element of unfairness" to Liverpool in choosing Hillsborough for a second time. I think the decision was ill-considered. No doubt in future the FA will be more sensitive and responsive to reasonable representations.
271. However, it was not suggested that the choice of venue was causative of this disaster. ”

“ A number of breaches of Green Guide standards were permitted and persisted eg the spacing of the crush barriers, the width of perimeter gates and the gradient in the tunnel (1 in 6 as against the Green Guide maximum of 1 in 10) . ”