CHAPTER 19
THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE SAFETY CERTIFICATE
286. The performance by the City Council of its duties in regard to the Safety Certificate was inefficient and dilatory. The failure to revise or amend the certificate over the period of three years preceding this disaster, despite important changes in the layout of the ground, was a serious breach of duty. There were, as a result, no fixed capacities for the pens. The certificate took no account of the 1981 and 1985 alterations to the ground.
287. 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).
288. The Advisory Group lacked a proper structure; its procedure was casual and unbusinesslike. Its accountability to the General Purposes Panel was ill-defined. Decisions were taken informally and too much was left to Mr Bownes. In particular, the decision to remove barrier 144 was not referred to the Panel and ought not to have been made.
