The FA have issued a belated apology now.

The other emergency services were also at fault in various ways plus Sheffield Wednesday and the local authority. However as "lead responder" the police must bear most responsibility. Their preparation for the game and response on the day were woeful but the cover up and attempt to blacken the names of the victims is utterly unforgivable and those responsible should be locked up.

Not sure about that. I thought that overall the ambulance service came out of it well? Can't recall any criticism of the fire service but it's a long document.

The point was though that both ambulance service and fire service were - naturally - part of major disaster planning and the reason that neither swung into major disaster mode immediately was again the inexcusable fault of the police, who, incredibly, forgot to declare a major emergency. Had they contacted the ambulance service and decalred a disaster, and used the codeword CATASTROPHE designated precisely for the purpose, then eg the "Fleet of ambulances" would indeed have been immediately despatched. As it was, as there was no declared emergency, they weren't and could not be.

Another terrible result was that the fire service, who would have had cutting etc. equipment to tear down the pitch side fencing and relieve the crush, were for the same reasons similarly delayed in a full attendance. That fact, taken with the news that in fact the claim that all victims 'would have been dead by 3.15 anyway' was yet another falsehood, leads to the unpalatable possibility that people who died in the crush would have been capable of being saved had a full emergency been immediately declared.


Indeed, but we have people still vilifying the Liverpool fans on this very thread.

Can't argue with most of that. My criticisms of SYMAS and the Fire Service was more to do with their preparations. Not turning up for planning meetings and therefore making sure they were incorporated in emergency plans with proper lines of communication. Obviously the police as chair of the planning group were remiss here but the other agencies should have known that they had a part to play in planning for football matches and been more thorough in their preparations. Similar blame should also be apportioned to the FA, SWFC and the local authority.

On the day itself SYMAS was hampered by the negligence of the police in failing to declare a major incident, but nobody seemed to do any triage at the scene, a responsibility that could have been assumed without the need for approval on high. Thankfully the local hospitals were on the ball or it could have been even worse.

"The SYP decision to replace the experienced match commander, Chief Superintendent Brian Mole, and appoint Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield who had minimal experience of policing at Hillsborough, just weeks before an FA Cup semi-final, has been previously criticised. None of the documents disclosed to the Panel indicated the rationale behind this decision."

This seems to be a key decision in the pre-match planning. A shame the report couldn't get to the bottom of it. And this would have been a senior (assistant chief constable?) management decision I would have thought.

Shame on you.

Disgraceful by the Torygraph to not even have a mention of it on their front page. Absolutely shocking.

Had you run out of bog paper?

Oh dear, you haven't a clue have you - there's a public findings report out in the open, maybe you should take a look at it before making statements like that !!!!!

Some of the posts on this thread are beyond contempt.

The report is unequivocal in its' removal of ANY "blame" from the supporters, and at the same time apportions blame quite directly at the door of those charged with protecting and serving the public.

Before you pedal your 8ull again just stop and think about how it might feel for your loved ones never to come back from a football match. Then imagine being told it was their fault. Then imagine fighting 23 years for the truth. Then imagine the truth being accepted by all involved. Then imagine some loser - yes that's you - continuing to repeat the lies and smears about your DEAD relatives.

And when you've done that - do one.

Any fan of any large club that played a high profile match in the 80 s is fully aware of what used to happen, a large number of Liverpool fans turned up without tickets, the options to them were either steal a ticket from a fellow fan, bribe a turnstyle operator or steward, or finally ' force ' entry

It is those fans that caused the Hillsborough disaster , what happened afterwards was completely wrong, but it wasnt the cause , I also await the day when 1 single fan stands up and says " I was there that day without a ticket, I am partly to blame, I am sorry

Not according to the Taylor report or the independant panels review so i take it you were there and saw all these large numbers arrive then but no one involved that day did ?

Having attended many similar matches of that era I am fully aware of what happend

At that time mass hooliganism was rife too so does that mean its ok to accuse the fans of this too???

Completely irrelivant

FACTSHSE calculated that had Gate C not been opened it would have taken until 3.40pm to admit all 10,100 spectators with tickets for the Leppings Lane terrace, 40 minutes after the scheduled kick-off

The HSE estimated that on the day of the disaster 1,576 people entered pen 3. This was approximately double the maximum safe capacity.61 The HSE found no evidence that this was due to fans without tickets entering the ground. It calculated that [sizethe highest number of entrants, either through the turnstiles or Gate C, was 10,124, just 24 over the designated capacity of the Leppings Lane terrace[/size.

[sizeThe video showed the period immediately before Gate C was opened. Its opening did not result in a ‘mad rush or stampede as press referred to’.
[/size
Documentary evidence considered in Chapter 2 does not confirm a significant number of ticketless fans, and CI Bettison responded to the meetings that ‘Inspector King of Scotland Yard was asked to find out whether there was a conspiratorial effort – he could not find any direct evidence that Liverpool supporters held this conspiratorial view, apart from three isolated statements … in the pub’. [sizeNor is there any evidence in the disclosed documents to confirm that there was a surge of badly behaved late arrivals, with or without tickets.[/size
Consistent with Lord Justice Taylor’s findings, the Panel found no evidence among the vast number of disclosed documents and many hours of video material to verify the serious allegations of exceptional levels of drunkenness, ticketlessness or violence among Liverpool fans. There was no evidence that fans had conspired to arrive late at the stadium and force entry

I don't need to comment on your sick views.