# The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Interim Report/Part 4

PART IV - INTERIM RECOMMENDATIONS
CHAPTER 23 - INTRODUCTION
Limited Objectives
304. It is important to stress the limited objectives of the interim recommendations I can make in this Report. My purpose is to propose instant measures capable of being implemented forthwith and where possible before the commencement of the 1989/1990 season. They are designed to prevent overcrowding and crushing on terraces in the short term and to improve safety procedures. They do not and cannot meet all the problems or address all the issues of post-Hillsborough football. Wider issues such as membership schemes, identity cards, all-seater stadia, super-stadia and long term recommendations fall to be considered in my Final Report. So do a number of other specific matters such as a comprehensive review of the Green Guide, the problem of excessive pre-match drinking, fans without tickets and ticket touts. I mention these matters lest it be thought I have decided no recommendations need be made concerning them. I have not. But before deciding what if any recommendations to make about these and other matters, more evidence and study is required.
305. Accordingly, the main thrust of these interim recommendations, as a holding exercise, is to reduce numbers on the terraces, to increase vigilance and to achieve a proper balance in crowd control between prevention of disorder and maintenance of safety.
Perimeter Fences
306. It would be impractical and unwise to recommend works of construction or radical structural changes now, before completing the extensive study and consultation which will form stage two of this Inquiry. Hasty interim recommendations of that kind might well prove to be ill-judged after further study and require to be changed in a matter of months.
307. In particular, I do not at this stage make any recommendation as to removing perimeter fences or replacing them with structures of different design. Understandably, there was a wave of popular feeling against such fences in the immediate aftermath of Hillsborough. The horrifying spectacle of people being crushed against the fencing focussed blame for the disaster on the fences themselves. There were pleas to dismantle them and emotive references to the fans being treated like "caged animals". Some clubs removed their fencing straightaway. It was therefore very tempting to consider at an early stage making a recommendation that the fences should be removed. I confess to being so tempted.
308. Regrettably, only a month after Hillsborough, there were incidents which showed that violence and hooliganism are still liable to erupt at football grounds. On 13 May at Selhurst Park, Birmingham City supporters invaded the pitch and fought with supporters of the home club, Crystal Palace. Five police officers and 16 supporters were injured and required treatment at a local hospital. On the same day at a match between Bristol City and Sheffield United, spectators spilt onto the pitch and there was fighting on the terraces. At the Cup Final between Liverpool and Everton on 20 May, there was a pitch invasion, albeit a comparatively benign one.
309. Even the Football Supporters' Association (FSA) felt it necessary to say in their final submission,
   "With some reservations, the FSA accept that perimeter fences are necessary for crowd control."
310. Bearing in mind those matters, and the need to consider further expert evidence, I have decided that it would be unwise and premature for me to make any recommendations now either to remove or to preserve or to alter the structure of perimeter fences. I shall make recommendations about them in my Final Report.
311. For the present, I would emphasise that, although the fencing prevented escape, the real cause of the Hillsborough disaster was overcrowding and it is against that danger that my interim recommendations are primarily directed. Whilst declining to recommend the removal of the fences, I do consider that the gates to the pitch should be kept open whilst the terraces are occupied. This will have, I hope, three beneficial effects. Obviously, an open gate is a more ready escape route than one which has to be locked. Secondly, the sight of open gates will be reassuring to spectators on the terraces. Thirdly, the existence of gaps in the fencing by reason of the open gates will concentrate the minds of police officers or stewards on the track to the need for careful monitoring of those on the terraces.
​312. It will of course be necessary to have a police presence sufficient to prevent pitch invasion for improper reasons through the open gates. However, I am encouraged to think that this is not an insuperable problem by the fact that, for example at Anfield, Liverpool's ground, there were no gates in the perimeter fencing before it was taken down. There were instead gaps or "access points" as they are called in the Green Guide (paragraph 215). Their existence did not, so far as I am aware, prevent the authorities from maintaining order. Also, the gates were open throughout the replay of this ill-fated semi-final at Old Trafford on 7 May 1989.
'Reduced Numbers
313. In the assessment of figures for capacity, the criteria in Chapter 16 of the Green Guide were not at Hillsborough, and may not elsewhere, have been applied with sufficient rigour. Therefore, in addition to reminding and enjoining local authorities and clubs to make all necessary deductions when assessing the figure for maximum capacity in accordance with the Green Guide, I recommend reducing that figure by a further 15% as an interim measure.
Safety Certificate
CHAPTER 24 - THE RECOMMENDATIONS
315. The recommendations which follow are the minimum necessary to ensure that existing football grounds can for the present be safely used, based upon the evidence which I have heard at Sheffield and other information I have received. They complement the recommendations which Mr Justice Popplewell set out after his inquiry at Bradford.
316. Those which are asterisked should be carried out before the 1989/90 season starts. The rest should be started forthwith and completed as soon as possible.
Maximum Capacities for Terraces
1. Where a viewing terrace is divided into pens or areas which are self-contained, the Safety Certificate should specify the maximum number of spectators to be admitted to each such pen or area.
2. Each figure for maximum capacity should be assessed in accordance with Chapter 16 of the Green Guide ("the Green Guide figure") subject to the following qualifications:
3. Arrangements should be made:—
Filling and Monitoring Terraces
Fences and Gates
Crush Barriers
Safety Certificates
Duties of each Football Club
21. Closed circuit television should be so installed as to enable crowd densities outside the ground, within
Police Planning
Communications
Co-ordination of Emergency Services
First Aid, Medical Facilities and Ambulances