>> The responsibility for the deaths rests mainly with those fans who were at the back
>> having arrived late and were trying to push their way forward. That is what caused
>> the crush at the front of the terraces.
You and others keep saying this but repetition does not make it true.
Sheffield Wednesday’s H&S officer, Graham Mackrell was convicted of offences regarding failure to make adequate arrangements for safe management of the spectators arriving at Leppings Lane. Of 23 turnstiles only seven were opened, compared with 13 (albeit for a higher expected attendance) in 1988 when same teams met for same quarter final. Seven gates were utterly inadequate. Guidance, referenced by the judge in sentencing, was that each turnstile could expect to process 750 people an hour. By 2:30 the entrance was overwhelmed and there were already crush injuries occurring. In my very limited experience of attending top class football and more extensive observation when living near a ground (Vicarage Road) most people turn up later than 30 minutes before kick off. That, plus possibility of a cohort maximising drinking time and arriving very close to KO, should have been a given with appropriate provision to get spectators in. That provision was not there.
I’ve experienced crowd crushes at non-football public events and on the underground. It doesn’t need any serious pushing; the volume of people is enough.
Judge’s sentencing remarks are here:
www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Sentence-Mackrell.pdf
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