| Fire Control | Hello! Now you wnt some cutting gear - what exactly is it for? |
| Police | There has been a major accident at Hillsborough football ground where the semi-final is; the crowds have forced their way in, they have broken fences and gates down. I don't know exactly what it is but there are people trapped. |
| Fire Control | Right! OK - leave it with us. |
That conversation took 1 minute 13 seconds. It was published in a number of newspapers with strong critical comment mostly against the fire service. The thrust of the criticism was that valuable time was wasted by the fire service asking unnecessary questions as to where and why cutting equipment was required.
19. There was a meeting of the emergency services in August 1988 to discuss procedure in the event of a major disaster at Sheffield Wednesday's ground. It was pointed out and minuted that "It was imperative that the Police Control give the exact location of any fire or incident and as much detail as possible. No senior fire officer is on duty at the match... Fire service will attend via Penistone Road or Leppings Lane as directed by the police."
20. The message from PC Bichard contained all the necessary information - Leppings Lane end, hydraulic cutting equipment, to cut metal fences. Regrettably, it was not passed on by Headquarters in those terms. Miss Davies had rightly been trained to require a precise location and needed to know the problem which would face the fire service so that the appropriate response could be made. In fact, there are several football grounds in the Hillsborough district although clearly Sheffield Wednesday's ground is the principal one. In the result, although Chief Inspector Edmundson clarified, to an extent, the nature of the problem, the locus which emerged in the course of the conversation (Penistone Road) was not that contained in the original message from ground control (ie "Leppings Lane end.") Whilst on the face of the conversation the fire service may seem to have been slow in the uptake or perhaps pedantic, in my view the police ought to have been more specific. They had the necessary information to be so.
21. I am satisfied, however, that the delay of 1 minute 13 seconds over the call, and even the delay occasioned by the cutting equipment going to Penistone Road rather than Leppings Lane, did not affect the outcome. Even had those with cutting equipment gone directly after a briefer 'phone call they would not have arrived at a stage early enough to make cutting the fencing a helpful exercise.
Mr Kenny Dalglish
22. When the Liverpool manager went to the control room and agreed to make the announcement broadcast at 3.56 pm, he says in a statement that he could not get the Tannoy to work. Spectators could see him trying to address them and indicated to him manually that nothing could be heard. An officer pressed buttons on the machine and Mr Dalglish says he tried again with similar lack of success. He was then taken under the police box to the room used by the disc jockey to broadcast pre-match music. There, the microphone worked and he broadcast his message.
23. Mr Dalglish was not called. There was no other evidence about this incident. I accept it occurred as he described. Why the Tannoy could not at that time be successfully operated from the police box is, however, strange and unexplained. Unlike the radio, it had operated satisfactorily from the police box at the critical times save that its messages may not always have been heard above the prevailing noise. It had worked at about 3.30pm when it called for medical staff. I can see no grounds for criticising the police in regard to this incident and certain it is that the brief delay in relaying Mr Dalglish's message can have had no significant effect.
