MANCHESTER council is being sued by a Glasgow firm which claims officials failed to protect its equipment from rampaging Rangers' fans during May's Uefa cup final.
The Hexagol company was contracted to provide a `football assault course' at fan zones in Albert Square and Piccadilly Gardens to cater for what was supposed to be a `friendly invasion' of Glasgow fans for the May 14 cup final against Zenit St Petersburg of Russia.
Clashes
But an estimated 200,000 Rangers fans made the trip and violent clashes between fans and police marred the event.
Some 15 police officers were injured and 42 supporters were arrested.
Hexagol is suing the council for £400,000 to replace damaged equipment and for loss of revenue - the firm has not been able to trade since. The company claims that promised fencing never materialised, no stewards were on hand to help their staff and far more supporters than had been planned for were allowed into the fan zones.
Supporters
A floor plan of Albert Square fan zone, which the council sent to the company before the game and which has been seen by the M.E.N, indicated there would be between 3,000 and 4,000 supporters inside it.
It is claimed some 50,000 supporters were crammed into Albert Square on the day.
The failure of a big screen in Piccadilly Gardens saw tempers flare before the kick-off, with supporters fighting among themselves and throwing bottles at police.
Charges
After the game, which Zenit won 2-0, police launched baton charges at around 200 bottle-throwing yobs.
The company says its vans were damaged and the cells which make up the hexagons were destroyed, leaving them unable to fulfil their other contracts or replace damaged kit.
Hexagol managing director Robert Caw said: "It was a total abdication of responsibility and duty of care. We genuinely feel badly let down.
"The insinuation seems to be that because we are a Glasgow company we should have known what was going to happen. We came down to do a job for the council and we were badly let down. If you are going to have a fan zone, you should fence it off and have some sort of order. There were a lot of horrible people there but that's not the point. The council failed in its duty to us. I was really, really afraid for a lot of our guys."
'Chaos'
In a letter to the council, Roger Topping, an insurance loss assessor working for the company, said: "The eventual breakdown of order and the chaos caused by the failure of the council to control the area properly as they had contractually undertaken to do led to the destruction of the equipment and significant losses to our client."
The company says it will now instigate legal proceedings.
A council spokesman said: "We have been in lengthy correspondence with Hexagol and have informed them that we cannot accept liability for the damage caused to the mobile football pitch.
"A robust planning process was in place throughout the Uefa cup and the council cannot be held accountable for a minority of people who perpetrate vandalism and violence."
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Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
Elb Owdeep (26/11/2008 at 08:18)
Albert Bino (26/11/2008 at 08:34)
umpire 2, Salford M7 4HT (26/11/2008 at 08:40)
My answer to that is unprintable, I worked in Piccadilly Gardens, we were shouting for assistance from the Stewards, Police from as early as 10am.
The whole thing needs a public enquiry and why oh why did that famous man of the City Centre ever open his mouth to invite them down here for the game. In my opinion, the council have to take the blame for the poor planning of the whole event.
dessie, manchester (26/11/2008 at 09:13)
Octavius Tinsworth Ace (26/11/2008 at 09:21)
Come back and visit us any time, won't you. Please.
Colin Stewart (26/11/2008 at 09:55)
Colin, Airdrie
Mark,Radcliffe. (26/11/2008 at 09:55)
Rt Hon Dr Rev MC Spanner MP QC FCA FRICS JP OK (26/11/2008 at 10:02)
Agreed - It will never happen
Doug, Fallowfield (26/11/2008 at 10:30)
It was chaotic at 8am and people were drniking left right and centre at that time. I saw men urinating up against shop windows, fights, shouting abuse, sectarian singing, throwing bottles and the city was in a state of lawlessness that day. Never mind the rioting, don't pretend it was hunky dory until then and it was 'a small minority'. It wasn't.
You try and buy a drink at Sainsburys or Tesco intown on Sunday - you won't be allowed while the City v United game is on but the council foolishly let the Ranger's fans drink all day on the streets.
'Ah but you try stopping them'. Well it works with 200,000 Mancunaians on a eekend.
I knew that it would be tasty as soon as I knew that so many were coming down so why didn't the council?
They say it benefitted the local economy but how? Tesco and the national pub chains aren't based in Manchester are they?
Doug, Fallowfield (26/11/2008 at 10:38)
Most Scots were driniking cans of lager bought from supermarkets. To give an example Tesco is based in Hertfordshire and Carling is made in Belgium now.
If you went to a pub chances are it will be a national chain like Wetherspoons or will be owned by a brewery that isn't Manchester based. Did you buy food? Perhaps Pizza Hut or KFC? Owned by American companies. What about hotels? Travelodge, Holiday Inn Express etc - not Manchester based companies. So how did £20 million pound benefit Manchester companies or the council?
How much do you think the clean up operation cost? What about damage to vehicles and property?
And please doin't say it was a minority because it was the majority. If you think it the majority were well behaved then your standards must be different to ours down here.
It was great to walk out of M&S and see four blokes urinating against the window in front of old people and kids on the other side. At about 11am too so please don't tell me that they couldn't find a spare loo somewhere.
Animals the lot.
Mr Main, Salford (26/11/2008 at 11:18)
I wonder if the sentiment would be the same if it was a local company.
I believe they are instigating a claim against Manchester City Council for failing to properly control the official fanzone. A feeling that is shared by many of the local business' also affected.
David of Ashton, Ashton (26/11/2008 at 11:24)
Have I missed something how did the City of Manchester make £20M, are you in a position to expand, I think you may be slightly out with the figure of 100, 000 there were double that in the centre of Manchester.
The Glasgow firm have a strong case which will be settled well before it gets to court
MancLadUK, Manchester (26/11/2008 at 11:34)
To be fair, it was of their fans that caused this problem, so they should take the responsibility for it. Plus it will hit the fans where it hurts too when their club is sued because of their actions.
Time for football to face up to it's responsibilities and cover some cost itself.
Manchester suffered that day because of a minority of Rangers fans, why should Manchester suffer again by being sued?
They should either go for those arrested on the day or the football club itself, not the easy target of the council.
Colin Stewart (26/11/2008 at 12:32)
Every hotel and B & B for the greater Manchester area was booked up(includig the privately owned ones).
Do you think the City didn,t get anything from UEFA towards putting the event on? This would have gone towards the clean up!
Do you also think that 60 portaloo's was enough to cope with the volume of fans? Because I don't, especially when the pubs & food shops had stopped fans using their facilities.
The whole point that is starting to get missed is that Manchester City Council failed to provide the facilities,security & equipment to make this a safe event. It was not Rangers who were staging the event so therefore are not liable.
Knowall, stretford end (26/11/2008 at 12:39)
Albert Bino (26/11/2008 at 12:46)
you can try and blame someone else for the event but you cant blame someone else for your behviour. it was not a minority. it was the majority. i dont blame the city council at all beacuse there is no way they could have forseen 200,000 hitting the city and causing mayhem.
Doug, Fallowfield (26/11/2008 at 12:54)
The metrolink? Oh yes, the whole system stopped running at 11am because Rangers fans were all over the line in and around the city but especially at Piccadily and tehre were beer cans and rubbish all over it so they decided to close it all down due to safety reasons. The buses stopped and were dropping people off in an around the city because they couldn't get in. I had a 40 minute walk home from work that day - thanks for that.
Also what kind of person comes down when they haven't got a tcket and have no intention or chance of getting one jsu to start drinking at 8am, nearly twelve hours before the game? Can you even remember it if you've been on it since 8am? Even starting drinking at 4pm is bad enough. Crazy.
Also I can't drink on the street in Manchester yet the police turned a blind eye to Rangers fans, I can't urinate in public but again the police turned a blind eye. I can chant racists things but again the police turned a blind eye.
Mark,Radcliffe. (26/11/2008 at 12:58)
Mr Manchester (26/11/2008 at 13:07)
mass ensemble of Rangers fans who were unable to handle their drink and see their team lose.
The Scottish Executive should pay for the actions of their bile citizens.
Guten Tag, Manchester (26/11/2008 at 13:32)
Alison Stewart (26/11/2008 at 14:40)
A Stewart
North Lanarkshire
Mark FY1, Blackpool (26/11/2008 at 14:43)
A simple check on hoteliers in the city and Blackpool for that matter might have given the cueless the clue they needed.
Greater Manchester Police were offered assistance in policing the game by both Merseyside and Strathclyde Police, they refused, great decision eh?
Liability for the organisation has to lie with the council, for god sake, they werent even going to have fan-zones until pressured into it, and even then the zones were woefully inadequate as you are pretty much talking about Glastonbury in a city centre, crazy.
The actions of around 0.01 percent of Rangers fans was deplorable, but the actions of the council and the police was truly shocking.
Colin Stewart (26/11/2008 at 17:17)
Your comments on the public transport network just emphasises the inadequacies of the MCC's "robust planning process " when they warned how many fans to expect from the minute Rangers qualified for the final.
Sadly you seem to be tarring all Rangers fans with the same brush.I for one wasn't drinking at 8am as I had my 14Yr old son with me, as did many other fans, in fact I didn't have drink all day! Most fans were there without a ticket to enjoy the moment as it was probably the only chance in my lifetime to see Rangers in a European Cup Final. Unfortunately we are now remembering it for the wrong reasons.
As for the Manchester Police turning a blind eye, I agree, but how were they to stop the drinking especially when many of the supermarkets & off-sales would only sell beer in full cases!!(that's called cashing in).
Unfortunately this company were contracted by MCC to entertain the fans in a "controlled Fanzone" but were let down with the lack of organization & security barriers, so why would that be anyone else's fault other than the main contractor -MCC?
Audenshaw Bob (26/11/2008 at 17:46)
Don't get me wrong I get hammered most of the week but I don't behave like these fans did.
It wasn't 0.01% it was the whole lot but it depends what you set for yourself as standards.
I was taught not to litter, not to belittle women walking by, not to urinate in the street in braod daylight (one was in the middle of the road on Deansgate at 11am), not to swear loudly or in public, not too drink before 1pm, not to smash up bars, not to scratch cars with keys, not to loot etc.
MOST Rangers fans did all of these things. I know, I was there all day and was shocked at what was going on and believe me when I say that I have seen so things in my time.
But if the Scots see most of the above as normal behaviour then of course they will not see a problem in what went on will they?
I won't be going to Scotland again in a hurry let me tell you that.
Ed from Davyhulme, Manchester (26/11/2008 at 19:00)