Page:Hillsborough Taylor Interim Report Cm765.pdf/21

 '''CHAPTER 4 THE DISASTER'''

71. The initial influx through gate C, augmented by entrants via the turnstiles, came through the tunnel with great momentum. Fans spoke of being swept through, feet off the ground. The 1 in 6 gradient accelerated their progress. Upon reaching the crowded pens, some wished to go back but were unable to do so. The new arrivals found themselves pushed forward and the pressure became intense. At 2.54 pm, shortly after this influx began, the teams came onto the pitch. As usual, this was greeted by a surge forward. Many were now acutely uncomfortable and some were in distress. The mass seethed about but voluntary movement by any individual was difficult; hands down could not be raised and some fans found it hard to breathe. Still the flow continued through the tunnel causing further surges forward. There were shouts for help and for the gates to be opened to the pitch. Police officers on the perimeter track did not immediately react. In the deafening noise from chanting and shouting they did not at first recognise the problem. Realisation came at different moments to different officers in different places.

Gate 3 sprang open under the intense pressure from within. An officer quickly closed it. Shortly afterwards, it sprang again; officers tried to shut it. Those seeking to escape were urged and pushed back. Gate 4 was opened by a policeman who noticed the crushing. People began to spill out through it and were directed to the wing pens where there was still ample room. Meanwhile, gate 4 was closed again and then re-opened. At gate 3, a Constable, now alive to the crisis, followed strictly his written orders and radioed for permission to open that gate. Receiving no reply, he took it upon himself to open it.

Just before 3 pm, the match kicked off. At the same time, gate C, which had been closed at 2.57 pm, was reopened and a steady trickle continued to enter through the tunnel.

To escape the crush, fans began climbing the radial fences out of pens 3 and 4 into pens 2 and 5. Others tried to get over the front perimeter fence but were at first turned back by police who feared a pitch invasion. Near the front, fans, mostly youngsters, were weakened to the point of collapse and in some instances death but they were held upright by pressure all round. Further back, most were so preoccupied with the pain of being pressed against barriers and with breathing problems that they saw nothing of the game. But at the rear there were many who, although cramped, were watching the football unaware of the distress at the front.

At 3.04 pm, Beardsley for Liverpool struck the crossbar at the Kop end. There was a roar from the Liverpool fans and at the same time a powerful surge forwards in pen 3. The several surges which occurred after the influx from gate C carried the pressure down the pens towards the pitch. The force became such as to twist and break two spans of a crush barrier towards the front of pen 3. The evidence does not establish with certainty when this happened. Probably it was triggered by the surge at 3.04 pm. But I am sure it occurred after the influx from gate C so greatly increased the pressure in the pen. When the barrier broke those whom it had supported were projected towards the perimeter fence. Many fell and the involuntary rush of those behind pressed them down. The crushing force was transmitted and dispersed so that all along the front of pen 3 fans were pressed hard up against the low wall and the wire mesh of the fence above it.

In pen 4 no barrier broke. Nevertheless those at the front were crushed against wall and fence. Further back, two barriers were bowed and some individuals succumbed to the pressure around them.

Surges on terraces are common. Usually, they go forward, then recede. Here, with the weight of numbers, there was no receding. The pressure stayed and for those crushed breathless by it, standing or prone, life was ebbing away. If no relief came in four minutes there would be irreversible brain damage; if longer, death.

In the control room no-one noticed the overcrowding or anything amiss in pens 3 and 4 until the first fans spilt out onto the perimeter track just before kick-off. Then, the officers in command assumed that there was an attempted pitch invasion. They called up reserve serials waiting in the gymnasium and all available officers elsewhere to go to the pitch. A request was made to HQ for dog handlers.

Superintendent Greenwood, the Ground Commander, was by the players' tunnel at the kick-off. He noticed fans on the track and went to the west end behind the goal. As he approached, he did not think the pens overcrowded until he was very close and saw those pressed against the fence. Even then, he thought the situation "retrievable" if those higher up the pen relieved the pressure. He climbed on the wall below the fence and signalled with both hands to those behind to move back. Other officers joined him. It was impossible. Those fans who would have wished to comply were powerless to do so. Behind them, there were still many Rh