POLICE 'SENT ON REFRESHMENT BREAK'
Police motorcyclists monitoring traffic outside Hillsborough in 1989 were called away from the ground for a refreshment break shortly after the kick-off of the fateful FA Cup semi-final, the inquest into the tragedy has heard.
Malcolm Hodgson, then a police constable with South Yorkshire Police, recorded that at 3.02pm he had finished escorting coaches to the match and had sent a message to force control asking what he should do next.
He told Stephen Simblet, representing some of the bereaved families of the 96 Liverpool fans who died in the disaster, that he was told to go on the planned break for traffic officers.
The barrister asked: "Nobody was saying 'we have got a problem, we have got an emergency, you need to attend'. You were being sent off on your break as expected?"
Mr Hodgson replied: "At the time, yes."
The witness said he travelled three and half miles away from the ground en route to a South Yorkshire Police outpost before he was told at 3.15pm to return immediately to the ground.
He said he arrived 10 minutes later and was met by an ambulance containing two casualties which he then escorted to Sheffield's Northern General Hospital.
Mr Hodgson said at that stage he had "no idea of the magnitude of what was taking place" because he could not access his basic VHF radio.
He said: "The ambulance service just briefly said a barrier had collapsed and there were some injured people."
He then escorted four or five ambulances from the hospital to the football ground - which was hosting the tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest - and arrived at 3.50pm where he recalled the scene was then "chaotic" with police officers "in a daze" and a change in the crowd atmosphere.
Mr Hodgson said: "My most poignant memory is a man who was completely upset...he came and literally screamed in my face 'you caused this'.
"I thought at that point I was going to be pushed off my motorcycle and possibly injured. I was afraid slightly for what might happen."
On his next return convoy visit he said traffic on Penistone Road was gridlocked and he joined ambulance staff on foot to try to get to the ground.
At that point he said there were about 100 ambulances in the vicinity.
Mr Hodgson told Fiona Barton, representing South Yorkshire Police, that the radio problems did not affect the performance of his duties on the day as he followed his training.
He agreed with Paul Greaney, representing the Police Federation, that South Yorkshire Police in the 1980s was "highly regimented" as an organisation and that in fact he had completed his initial force training at an RAF base.
Officers were expected to stand to attention when a senior police officer entered the room and even salute them, he also agreed.
Mr Greaney asked: "Do you agree that within South Yorkshire Police there was in no sense a culture in which junior officers were encouraged to question or challenge orders they were given by a more senior officer?"
Mr Hodgson said: "Yes."
Mr Hodgson said he had witnessed scenes of hooliganism during his policing of football matches in the 1980s and agreed that such experiences would be on his mind when he was on duty.
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