Page:Hillsborough Taylor Interim Report Cm765.pdf/29

 '''CHAPTER 7 THE LAYOUT AT THE LEPPINGS LANE END'''

I have already observed that the layout of the turnstile area, of the terraces and of the concourse between them was the result of piecemeal changes. A brief history of these changes is now necessary.

The History

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.

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. 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). That work was approved and carried out during 1979.

The relevant local authority at the time was the South Yorkshire County Council. It set up an Officer Working Party consisting of representatives of the police, the fire service, its own building surveyor's division and its own legal and administration department. The Working Party made inspections and consulted with the Club and Dr Eastwood. A Safety Certificate was issued on 21 December 1979 for an indefinite period. It has remained in force ever since and has not been amended.

Schedule 3 of the certificate sets out the maximum crowd capacity for various areas in the ground. The figure for the west terrace is 7,200 and for the north-west terrace 2,900. These figures were intended to be in accordance with the Green Guide (1976). Paragraph 15.4 provided for a maximum "packing density" of between 54 and 27 persons per 10 square metres depending on the condition of the terrace. Dr Eastwood had calculated 8,000 for the west terrace on the basis of 54 per 10 square metres. He thought this a justified starting figure in view of his improved system of barriers. However, he reduced it to 7,200 because there were no gangways on the terrace and he did not think it feasible to provide any. So, the total figure for the Leppings Lane terraces was and is 10,100.

The 1981 Semi-Final

As already mentioned, there was crushing at the Cup semi-final in 1981. The match was between Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers. The police debriefing minutes after the incident prophetically refer,

""to the late arrival of a large number of spectators who were still waiting to enter the Leppings Lane enclosure when the match started. The flash point occurred when Tottenham scored" (at the Kop end) "after only three minutes. The spectators just entering pushed forward to see what was happening and caused a crush, which resulted in the injuries"."

Those being crushed called for the perimeter gates to be opened onto the track. There was no immediate reaction, according to Mr Vaux who was there, but fortunately a police Inspector gave instructions and the gates were then opened. About 250 came out onto the track. There were broken arms, legs and ribs and 38 were treated either in hospital or by the St John Ambulance Brigade. It is clear from the documents (a) that the turnstile readings showed the capacity figure of 10,100 had been exceeded by over 400 (b) that the police shut off further access to the terraces because of crushing, and (c) the police view after the event was that the capacity figure of 10,100 in the Safety Certificate was too high. This latter view was communicated to the Club by the Chief Superintendent then in command of F Division but it was not pursued. Rh