Police vowed to close Hillsborough tunnel to stop crushes, court told

Leppings Lane entrance kept open at 1989 FA Cup semi-final despite previous assurances

South Yorkshire police gave assurances in the early 1980s that they would close off the entrance tunnel leading to Hillsborough’s Leppings Lane terrace to stop the central pens becoming overcrowded, a court has heard.

Ronald Grimshaw, a divisional officer at the time with South Yorkshire county fire service, said the police gave these assurances in 1981, when the terrace was first divided into separate pens by metal “radial” fences running up from the high fence at the front of the pitch. He agreed that this was “recognised procedure” for the police to control the number of people going into the central pens, three and four, by closing the tunnel if the pens were full, and diverting incoming supporters away to the sides of the terrace.

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